Duality
by Lichte
Summary: On every Journey, people will gather around the hero. But who could be so conceited as to believe that they are the only 'hero' on this Journey? After all, every story has two sides. But which is right; the rise of a Messiah, or a descent into Madness?
1. Chapter 1

_From the backseat of the car, I could just barely hear my parents speaking, but I was too tired to understand what they said. We were moving again, something about work. I just knew that we'd left another home._

_I dozed off for what I am now sure was a little more than an hour, having a nice dream about a butterfly before being woken up by mom's screaming. I didn't know how I got out of the car, much less pull my sister out too, but I looked back at the car and saw it burning. A figure burst out one of the doors just before the car-_

* * *

I woke up soaked in the familiar cold sweat that usually accompanies the nightmare that I had come to expect whenever exhaustion overtook me and I fell asleep before midnight. It's something I try to avoid doing. I doubt you'd be able to sleep until it passed either if you'd seen what I have.

I checked my watch, hoping that it was still working. If it wasn't, I was about to have either a very boring hour… or a possibly deadly one. Well, if it's the second it'll at least be interesting for people to try and figure out how I was already dead from blood loss after someone saw me alive and well when my liver temp will indicate that I was already dead.

Good, it's only 22:28, I didn't even sleep through my stop. Would have been kind of embarrassing to show up at the school dorm a couple of hours before school started.

Feeling the train slowing down, I reached to pick up the bag containing the few things that hadn't been sent ahead of me to the dorm. A spare set of clothes, an old picture… and the sheathed sword strapped to my back and hidden by my jacket.

I can understand that you're questioning my sanity after having admitted to carrying a sword around at night in modern Japan, I'd probably feel the same way in your shoes. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of appearing sane to people who don't know the truth, I'm too busy increasing my chances of survival.

Looking out the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow of a man contort itself as something went from it down into an alley. No one else, even if they had been looking, could have possibly noticed that. Well, not unless they were good enough to hide from me, but I really doubt there's anyone that good in the area. It's not like those things are uncommon, but they can cause some serious damage, even when they seem not to have real bodies like right now. People that can see them, however, are exceedingly rare. Of all the people in the country, I'd be surprised if the number that would have been able to see that were up to three digits. People that can do anything about it are probably single digit.

I did what I always did when seeing one under these circumstances; I kept walking along the street toward the dorm like the map told me. There isn't anything I'll be able to do about that for more than an hour anyway.

I arrived at my destination with a couple of minutes to spare. I don't think there was an actual limit to when I was allowed to show up, but it wouldn't be a very good thing if I seem to violate the laws of physics by pushing the door open and being on the other side of the room a second later. No thanks, I already spent a year in a nuthouse where the 'specialists' seemed to think of patients as toys, I don't feel like getting thrown to scientists for them to experiment on.

I checked the time on the mp3 player hanging around my neck, and walked into the building. I let out a low whistle. "Nice place."

"I suppose so." I looked around and spotted a young woman with dark red hair wearing a ruffled blouse and a skirt. She almost seemed to have an aura of elegance about her; no surprise considering who she was. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, I'm one of the students living in this dorm. You're a transfer student, right?"

I nodded. "Minato Arisato, nice to meet you." Mitsuru Kirijo, heiress of the Kirijo Group that separated from the Nanjo Group back in '97. "Is there anything I need to take care of now, or can I go to bed?" I'm not really tired, well, I am a little, but I really just need to be out of sight by midnight.

She seemed to think about it for a moment before responding, "No, nothing that can't wait until morning. One thing though," she handed me a key, "I wouldn't recommend unpacking anything you don't need right away."

"Why's that?" I asked as I pocketed the key.

"It was a last minute decision to place you here. Since the boy's dorm is undergoing renovations, you'll be given a room at the boy's dorm in the next week or so." She turned and started walking back to the stairs. Assuming she was going to tell me where my room was, I followed her to the second floor. "You're things are in the last room on the right, down this hall. Good night." Before I could do so much as thank her, she continued up to a higher floor.

Oh _damn_, the time!

I rushed down to the end of the hall, hoping that no one was able to see me. As I put my key into the lock, I felt the familiar sensation. It started with a feeling similar to something pulling on my stomach, followed by a wave of pain passing through my head. It was more severe than usual, causing me to reflexively wince.

Looking around, I saw something that I shouldn't have. The lights in this place are still on and… yeah. I thought I was imagining it at first, but I can hear footsteps from the floor above. Looks like he was right, the Kirijo Group is up to something.

I went into the room and unceremoniously dropped my bag on the bed. I walked towards the window above the desk and looked out. Alright, there's a fire-escape I'll be able to use to get back in.

I opened the window, stepped back, took a deep breath, and dove out; twisting my body so I would land on my feet. "Now, let's find that Shadow."

* * *

"_Hello? Is that you sis?" I asked as I walked towards the room I had just seen someone's shadow coming from. "Are you in there dad?"_

_He hadn't been the same since the funeral. I cautiously walked into the kitchen, expecting to find dad or my little sister. I sighed as I saw that bastard lying by the now broken TV, his precious bottle in hand. Damn lush. "Hey Mizuiro… be a good boy, go get dad a drink, will ya?"_

_I went to the kitchen and pulled out one of his damn beers. The man spends the mornings dead to the world and his nights drunk off his ass. We'll end up homeless if he doesn't start doing his damn job. He and mom were detectives before the accident. Now? He just calls himself a detective and doesn't actually do a thing._

_I handed him the bottle of poison. "There's a good kid." He took a sip from his bottle. "Y'know, your sister looks more and more like her every day." I remembered a couple of stories Mom had told me after getting home from work. "Why don't you go get her, I'll teach you two a new game." I don't see this ending well._

* * *

23:54

I looked out the window to see a sparkling blue butterfly.

_Time never waits._

_It delivers all equally to the same end._

_You, who wish to safeguard the future,_

_You will be given one year;_

_Go forth, never falter,_

_With your heart as your guide…_

I really should be more surprised that a butterfly sent a cryptic message into my mind as it kept pace with a train, but things like that don't really surprise me anymore. That or I'm too tired to care. The last one's probably more likely.

I checked the time on the mp3 player hanging off my neck. You'll see why in a minute. Well, since it might be more than an hour before I can get off, might as well introduce myself. My name's Marina Inoue (No. I have no relation to that VA you may or may not have just thought of. Even if I do sound strangely like her.), I'm in my junior year of highschool.

I guess you could say I'm a little nervous right now. It's got nothing to do with being late; I'm just going to the dorm the new school's assigned me to. It shouldn't matter when I show up either, since they didn't say there would be anyone waiting for me and I have a key. No, the thing I'm worried about is having to spend the next hour in this little metal box.

"We apologize for the delay. The next stop is Iwatodai."

My concerns proved unfounded as the train slowed to a stop and the doors opened.

The world shifted as my foot touched concrete. Everything happened as usual; my music (like everything else requiring power) stopped working, the moon was glowing yellow, and my surroundings had a green tint to them. Did I forget to mention that I won't find anyone walking around? They're all in coffins right now.

I reached into my bag. Oh no, don't tell me I forgot the map.

…

…

I sighed. Now I'll have to wander around until I find the place.

* * *

If it weren't for my Persona, I'd be dead. I don't mean that it helped me in a fight a normal person couldn't win either. Only people like me could have survived that.

As I ran down an alley, I saw a young man in a tracksuit with a black liquid flowing down his face.

Of course, I also could have met a fate worse than death.

I followed the trail of black liquid further down the alley as I drew my sword.

I was able to see my target a few meters in, a massive black blob covered in what looked like masks, but I knew better. Those masks were faces, showing a sick and twisted glee as the soul of the guy I'd seen was consumed. If I don't take these things down now, that poor bastard's going to become one of _them_.

I ran towards the giant mass, sword drawn and a card in hand.

_

* * *

_

I could hear the two speaking outside my room.

_The by now familiar voice of the 'Counselor' I'd been speaking to for the last three months. "The boy just keeps talking about things that happen at midnight, I don't know how he even thinks of these things. People becoming coffins, water turning to blood; it's such a shame to see him like this, the tests show he's got an IQ bordering on-"_

_Another distinctly feminine voice responded, "I don't care about his IQ. I would like to speak with the patient." I'd heard this voice a couple of times before, but I hadn't seen what she looked like. I think her name was Sona-something._

"_Now now, I'm sure there's no need for that, Sonomura-san." I mentally clapped my hands together (unable to do so physically because…). Sonomura! That's it. "It's not like there's anything else to be gained from speaking with him, it's obvious that what happened to his parents was just too much for his young mind to handle. So tragic, losing them like that; Tamaki-chan was a good friend of mine, and for her husband to just disappear so soon." Bastard's just trying to make sure I don't tell anyone about his 'treatment' methods. Forcing sleeping meds into me so they can observe my brain activity during my nightmares is probably illegal._

_A voice I didn't recognized brushed off the bastard's attempt at keeping Sonamura from seeing me. "You don't seem to realize who you're speaking to." The man, and based on the voice, I was sure it was a man, showed the 'Good Doctor' something and the door opened amidst his stammering._

_I saw the woman, Sonomura, enter out of the corner of my eye. She came over and kneeled down to where I was sitting on the floor. "You're Mizuiro-kun, right? You can call me Maki." Taking my silence as a cue to continue, she said, "Why don't you tell me about these things you see at midnight?"_

_Without turning to face her, I answered, "Because you won't believe me. Who is it that sent you, that man? Trying to have my testimony rendered inadmissible? If you are, it's too late. I've already told them everything he did."_

_She was somewhat indignant as she said, "I have nothing to do with Tadashi. I could barely tolerate that sleezeball before he went crazy. And I swear, I won't think something's wrong with you if you just tell me what you see."_

"_You aren't the first to tell me you believe me," I answered. "And you probably won't be the last, either. Try something else, because pretending you'll believe me is getting pretty boring." A man with glasses came in through the open door, the same man who scared off the shrink._

_Sonomura smiled. "I'm not lying when I say I believe you, and neither is Kei-san. We already know what you said about that night after the accident. We think you're like us. We think you have that power." What would that be, the power to make little girls into orphans? "We believe you can because we can do it too." That was enough to make me look up. "Verdandi."_

"_Yamaoka."_

_I felt something resonating from them, and looked down to see a card in my hand displaying man with a metal body from the neck down. One of his red eyes was covered by white hair, in a stark contrast to his pitch black face. His head was the only part of him that looked semi-human; though I couldn't see a specific cutoff point because of his blood-red scarf, the rest of him appeared to be made of cold-steel. His left hand was holding some kind of instrument, the right was empty, and his shoulders looked like speakers._

_But there's one thing that to this day still confuses me. The four vertical bars across his chest seem almost like a cage, but I can't see what, if anything, is in it. All I see when I look past them is a shadow, like he's a hollow suit of armor._

_I'm not sure I want to know what's in there._

* * *

As Ares cleaved through the masks of the last pair of Shadows, I went back to check on the guy I'd seen before the fight. The black liquid was gone from his face, and he was sitting on the ground, dazed. I jogged over to help him up, sheathing my sword behind my back before he saw it. "You alright?"

The guy stood up once I was a few feet away from him. "Owwww…" he moaned as he rubbed his head. "What happened?"

I decided on a lie in a second. "I saw some jackass come up from behind and hit you in the head with a pipe. I tried running after him, but he was too fast for me to keep up with." He seemed somewhat dubious, but he accepted my answer. "You sure you're okay? Need a hand getting to the hospital?" Wait, something isn't right…

"Nah, I'll be fine. My family's place isn't too far. Thanks for the offer though. Name's Hayase." He held his hand out.

I took it as I introduced myself. "Well, I'd better get going. So should you."

"I guess so. Maybe I'll see you around." He jogged off as I realized what was wrong. Then I slapped myself in the head for not realizing it sooner. There's no way that guy was just another temporary awakening that the Shadows feed off of, he was too well oriented. And that means… he's lived with this for long enough to accept it. And if he's survived this for that long, he must have a Persona.

Or had. There's a chance that the Shadow consumed his Persona. It would explain why I didn't sense one from him. Of course, it might be a few days before he can summon it again if he does have one. Should I go after him or go back to the dorm? If he can't summon his Persona, he could get killed. But if Kirijo is involved like we thought, then she might know I snuck out. That would cause me a lot of problems.

Sorry Hayase.

* * *

As I ran down the street, I found myself amazed at what Persona could do. The power was far more than a weapon, though almost all of them I've seen seem to be based on some form of combat. They also provide a major boost to my physical capabilities just by focusing on one. And by summoning, kaja skills can be used to further enhance my speed, strength, and endurance. They also have healing abilities like dia, which can really speed up the recovery time for injuries. I'd have to answer a lot of unwanted questions if I couldn't heal quickly. I've even seen skills that allow the user to ignore dangerous environments.

Others have innate abilities. Some allow greater tolerance for extreme temperatures, others that block harmful effects of electricity. Hell, I met a guy with a Persona that made him bulletproof. Some people theorize that the abilities of a Persona are based on the mental state of the user. For example, a pessimist would have access to skills based on darkness. But likewise, the mind of a Persona User can also cause things to injure them more than they should. Take me for instance. I've had to work through a lot of shit in my life, and I like to think I'm fairly normal (contrary to most of what you've seen of me). But I still get depressed fairly easily under the right circumstances, so Orpheus would have trouble fighting the aforementioned pessimist's dark based attacks.

Every Persona is associated with an Arcana. Each one of the Arcana is associated with a certain state of mind. People of the Sun Arcana are usually optimistic, Emperor tend to make good leaders, etc. A Person's native Arcana is the deciding factor of what Persona they can use. Most people are limited to a couple of Arcana outside their own.

But I'm not like most people. My true Arcana is the Fool, the first part of the Journey of the Fool that Tarot cards are sometimes known as when in their numerical order. In theory, I can use Personas of any Arcana; though I haven't actually used all of them. I've actually only used a few. Fool, Chariot, Temperance, Hierophant, and Strength. Hell, I've only used one Persona of the Fool Arcana, and it was only summoned once. I could go on for hours about the greater nuances of the myriad powers of Persona, but it can basically be summarized as follows: Personas can be categorized into one of twenty-two Arcana, Fool through World; Personas of the same Arcana have similar abilities; and their skills can have dozens of different effects. Most importantly, Persona Users are extremely rare, and it's even rarer to find one that can enter this world for an hour in between days.

I was pulled out of my meandering thoughts as I saw a figure much further down the street. Before I was close enough to get a good look, I went down an alley and jumped, grabbing one of the fire escapes and using it to reach the top of the building. Proceeding by jumping from roof to roof, I got close enough to make out a few details.

The girl looked to be about my age, had a duffel bag in hand, had red hair and eyes, and was wearing the uniform for my new school. I can't remember the name right now, but I think it had something to do with insurance. I blame the Americans for that.

I'd guess that she just arrived here because of the bag, but she seems to know her way around here pretty well. Maybe she used to live here or something. But there's something more important to consider right now: Does she have a Persona? I tried to check, but she was too far away for my Wild Card to resonate with hers (if she had one).

What I could sense was that if she kept going the way she is right now, she'll turn a corner and walk right into a Shadow. Damnit, I'm not going to be able get there fast enough jumping from roof-to-roof.

I just know I'm gonna regret this in the morning.

I generated a card in my hand, wincing at the by-now familiar feeling of a piece of my soul trying to tear itself loose, and crushed it, exploding into a ball of blue fire that I threw into the gap between this roof and the next. I jumped off the roof after it, curling up into a ball as Ares followed my mental command and used his shield to knock me to the end of the block before fading away. I realized what a bad idea this was when I was about halfway there, as I looked down and saw that the girl had taken a shortcut to wherever she was going by cutting through an alley.

Why do I have this sudden urge to find and kill a butterfly?

Luckily for me, I didn't land in the street on top of the Shadow. The door leading downstairs from the roof stopped me midflight. "Damn you God."

* * *

Where'd the butterfly go? I could have sworn it went this way…

I kept walking, coming out onto another street directly in front of the dorm I'd been looking for. That was convenient.

I walked up the steps and opened the unlocked door; I guess they're expecting me. I dropped my bag and reached the counter on my left before realizing the lights still worked. Weird, normally they'd be cut off right now. I wonder if they realize that all their crap runs for an extra hour…

"You're late." There wasn't anyone behind that desk a second ago. Now there's a little boy leaning his elbows on the wood. "I've been waiting a long time for you." But I got here first…

He snapped his fingers and was in front of me. Wait; did my brain just stall or something? He was behind the counter a second ago, now he's right in front of me. "Now if you want to proceed, please sign your name there." I looked at the red notebook on the counter. "It's a contract." The book opened by itself. "Don't worry; all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know; the usual stuff."

I looked at the paper.

_I accept this fate of mine own free will._

Screw this; I just wanna go to bed.

_Marina Inoue_

I handed the notebook to the kid, who was holding it to his chest like it was the most important thing in the world to him. "No one can escape time. It delivers all equally to the same end…" The contract disappeared in his hand. "You can't plug your ears or cover your eyes." The shadows in the room seemed to move to cover him. "And so it begins."

And now I'm alone again.

This place is weird.

"Who's there!" I turned and saw a brunette pull a gun from a holster on her thigh and aim it at me. With the way her hand is shaking, I don't think she could hit me if I was close enough to reach out and grab it. Instead I took the time to notice that she had legs as nice as mine. Does this school really let her wear that short a skirt?

"Takeba! Wait!" A voice with some authority called out and I saw another girl at the top of the stairs. The girl I'm guessing was Takeba looked up as-

"_-and he chained me t-"_ I hit the pause button on the mp3 player hanging off my neck.

-a girl in a long skirt and ruffled blouse looked down from atop the stairs. For the love of God, someone please tell me she stuffs her bra.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

Before I had the chance to introduce myself, Takeba asked Mitsuru "Who's she?"

"Marina Inoue." Now where's my damn bed?

The two of them kept talking about… something I was too tired to focus on. I heard something about eventually being moved to another dorm. Great, maybe _they'll_ tell me where my damn bed is.

"Is it okay for her to be here?" That couch looks pretty comfy.

"I guess we'll see." She turned to me and finally gave a proper introduction. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you." Unless I'm gonna be using her chest as a pillow and sleeping right here, get to the freakin point.

I'd have ended up saying something along those lines if she hadn't given an almost hesitant, "Hey."

I gave a reflexive "Nice to meet you" without thinking about it. Maybe I should have said something about the gun, but I just can't bring myself to care about anything that won't get me a pillow and blanket right now. I also probably should have paid attention to how she answered.

Then Mitsuru said the magic words. "It's getting late, you should get some rest." Please, _please_, tell me you didn't just realize that. "Your room is at the end of the third floor hallway; your things should already be there." I love you Mitsuru-sempai.

I followed Yukari up the stairs. "This is it. Pretty easy to remember, huh? Since it's right at the end of the hall." Why did she just start giggling? Did I blank out and miss some joke? "Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll _never_ hear the end of it. So, any questions?"

"Does that kid live here?" I shouldn't be allowed to talk when I'm tired. I end up saying or doing things that seem stupid even to me.

"What kid?" That answers that; he was just a sleep deprivation induced hallucination. I wonder if my name's scribbled on the counter now. "Hey, can I ask you something? On the way here from the station, was everything okay?"

Aside from the people turning into coffins for an hour like every other night? "Nothing out of the ordinary." I'm used to that happening.

I _think_ she's relieved. "Looks like you're alright."

Why is she relieved?

Well, she was walking around during _that_, so maybe she thinks I'm like one of those weird people who walk around but don't respond to anything. I saw a guy like that once; he didn't respond to anything I did, not even the blindfold. Yeah, that's probably it.

How long have I been standing here trying to think? Yukari's still standing there, so it probably hasn't been _too_ long, but she's got that look people give me when I spend too much time in my head.

"Well, I'd better get going…" she awkwardly said. Yeah, I've been thinking about this too long.

"See ya later."

She turned back as I opened my temporary door. "Um," Oh come on; I can actually _see_ the bed! "I'm sure you have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay?" She gave a small smile. "Goodnight." I didn't say anything in response. I'm usually nicer than this, but I'm tired.

Hello bed.

* * *

Okay, for anyone who read this story before, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. When I first started this story, I honestly had know idea how I was going to end it, nor did I have any clear plans for how I would implement certain things. Thus, I removed the old story and am completely rewriting it so these can be implemented in a way that makes sense.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was coming up by the time I dragged myself back up the fire escape and through my open window.

Tch, a teenager sneaking back into his dorm room in the morning. If I'm not careful, I might start to consider myself normal.

Smiling at the absurdity of being a normal person, I reached into my bag and pulled out a framed picture. In it was a young boy with blue hair, standing beside a brunette woman. Her arms were stretched out, like she was moving to catch the little blue haired girl apparently sitting in midair. "Good morning Mom, sis." I laughed a little to myself. "What the hell am I doing? It's not like I'm ever going to see either of you again."

"And whose fault is that?"

I turned around and saw the little girl from the picture sitting in the desk chair. She couldn't have been more than five years old. "I don't have time for this." Why the hell can't you just stay in a dark little corner in the back of my head? It's not enough that I'll never see you again? You have to keep tormenting me like this?

"Why? Don't you love me anymore?" How long are you going to make me live with this? "Isn't that why you saved me? Is that why you left mommy? Isn't that why you-"

I closed my eyes. "Just shut up…" When I opened them, the girl was gone. I put the photo back into the bag and pulled out a bottle of pills.

Just another morning of the life of Minato Arisato.

* * *

There was a knock at my door. "Hey, it's Yukari. Are you awake?"

I grabbed my bag before opening the door. "Mornin!"

"Good morning. You sleep okay?" She was wearing the same pink sweater and tiny skirt.

"Like a baby." Once I actually got to a bed.

"Mitsuru-sempai asked me to take you to school." Does she think I wouldn't be able to find my way there on my own? Geez, how low are her expectations of me? "It's getting late so… Ready to go?"

As tempting as it was to tell her I could get there on my own, I didn't. "Sure." But that bed was too soft for me to be angry about this. And it could take me awhile to find my way there on my own.

On the way down the stairs, she told me, "One more thing first."

"What is it?"

"Another student showed up a bit before you did; sempai asked me to take him too."

Wait a sec, "Him?"

"Yeah," she answered. "This dorm's co-ed."

Sweet. "Know anything about him?"

"I've actually never met him before, and all sempai said was that his name was Minato Arisato and he'll be easy to notice."

I was going to ask her what she meant by easy to no- Holy Crap that guy has blue hair. Looks like he's in pretty good shape too… I blinked.

Why is there a black '0' floating over his head? How can he just sit there drinking a Mad Bull with something like that above his head? I blinked again. Still there. Yay, more insanity for me.

Yukari must not see it, because she just asked, "Are you Arisato-san?" He turned after finishing off his drink. Whoa, he looks like he hasn't slept for a week.

* * *

I stifled a yawn as I looked up at the stairs. Two girls, brunettes, were standing at the bottom of the stairs. I focused on the brunette who'd spoken. Lovers. "Yeah, that's me. Who're you?" The other girl was still staring at me. Just ignore it for now, it's not like it's the first time someone has had trouble not focusing on my hair.

The first girl spoke again. "Oh, I'm Yukari Takeba, and this is Marina Inoue." I focused my eyes on her red irises. Holy Hell. I never thought I'd actually see someone else with the Fool Arcana. Or is she a Persona User already who's skilled enough to keep her Wild Card from resonating with mine? Wait a sec, where's that voice coming from?

_**tha echei polli epitychia, tha einai poly petychimeni**_

I raised my left hand to cover my left eye, hidden by my bangs. Why the hell does this damn thing hurt? Whichever one of you that is, shut the hell up

I blinked and it stopped. Damn it, what the hell was that? Latin? Greek? It's not any language I'm fluent in. I should probably fix that soon…

"You okay?" I looked back at Takeba. "You look like you've got a headache."

Ugh, of course you noticed that. "I'm used to it." I waited for one of them to say something. "Was there something you needed?"

Inoue was the one to answer me. "We were heading to school. You wanna come with? I mean, you just moved here so…"

Meh, what the hell? It's been a few years since I was in Iwatodai, and I've been trying to suppress most of my memories of it since I left. "Sure."

* * *

Minato seems like a pretty nice guy, if a little quiet. I'm in no position to judge him for that. Hell, I probably spent about a week after that night without speaking. But still, even though he's getting along with Yukari pretty well, it seems like they're both forcing themselves through the conversation. The way she speaks, it's like she's thinking about something different than what we're talking about. And Minato… every expression he makes; a grin, a frown, even raising an eyebrow; it all seems kind of awkward, almost like he doesn't know how to make facial expressions.

Yukari looked up as I felt the train turn again. "There it is."

I looked out a window, but all I saw was water.

Then the train turned again.

_The school's on a freaking artificial island!_

_Why haven't I ever been in a school that they built an island for before!_

"Well, here it is; Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it!"

I thought the place looked even better up close.

Minato just looked bored with the 0 floating over him. I think it might be spreading, since now I'm seeing things floating over everyone's head if I focus. Yukari has a pink VI. I ignored it and followed her into the building.

"You two should be okay from here, right?" She asked as she slipped her shoes into her locker.

Minato yawned before saying, "Should be." What's with that monotone? Is he _that_ tired, even with that Mad Bull from earlier?

"You should probably go see your homeroom teachers first. The faculty office is right over there to the left… And that concludes the tour!" She announced as she shut the shoe locker. "Any questions?"

Minato shook his head and walked off as I asked her, "What class are you in?" Be nice to know someone in the class already for once.

She answered, "I dunno, I haven't seen the class assignments yet." She grabbed my shoulder when I started to walk away. I could see the bulletin board that probably had the class assignments, but my name probably isn't on it. "Hey… About last night… Don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? See you later." She left.

I sighed. I've lived with that long enough to know that it isn't something you run around talking about; you don't have to remind me.

Minato looked like he was having a bit of trouble finding his name. I just went ahead and took the hall to the left looking for the faculty office. I ignored the fact that a man wearing a helmet (I later found out he was a teacher) was talking to a blond… guy?... who was holding a fan. Thank you glowy blue butterfly that no-one else sees.

A teacher in a suit noticed me a couple of seconds after coming in. "Oh, are you the new student?" I nodded with a smile. "Marina Inoue, eleventh grade, correct?" she asked while consulting her notes. I nodded again. "Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places. And… in '99," I braced myself for the usual. "That was what, ten years ago? Your parents-" she gasped when she read what I knew was on the paper I knew she hadn't looked at.

"I'm sorry, I've just been so busy, I haven't had time to read over…" She trailed off mid apology. It's always awkward when the teacher reads off the date your parents died without knowing what happened until a few seconds later. But it doesn't do any good holding a grudge over it, figured that out the fourth time it happened. "I'm Ms. Toriumi, I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

"It's nice to be here." It was. The last school I was in was a dump.

"Have you seen the classroom assignments yet?" I shook my head. "You're in 2-F, that's my class. But you need to head to the auditorium first, there's an assembly there in about fifteen minutes. Go on ahead," she said as she sat back down. "I have to catch up on some paperwork."

Ouch.

* * *

I saw Inoue come out of the office right before I went in the other door. The only one in here is a woman in a pink suit. She looked at me, probably wondering why I was here. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I'm Minato Arisato; I'm new here." As I said that, I realized why I couldn't find my class; I was looking for the wrong name. Huh, even after all these years I still think of myself as that little kid sometimes…

She introduced herself as Toriumi before checking her clipboard. "Have you seen the classroom assignments yet?"

I scratched the side of my head as I told her, "I checked, but I didn't see my name up there."

"Well, I guess you probably weren't in the system when they put it up. Anyway, you're in… eleventh grade?" I nodded. "You're in 2-E, that's Mr. Ekoda's class."

I turned to leave. "Thanks."

"Hold on a second." I paused at the door. "There's an assembly in the auditorium, so you need to head there first."

I yawned. "I got it."

The halls were starting to clear out, probably since people were heading to the auditorium. I followed a brown haired guy and started chatting with him. Kenji-something. Nice guy, but he seems kinda lazy. Magician.

We were supposed to sit with our classes, so I split away from him once we reached the place. Ended up sitting by a black haired girl who could give Takeba or Inoue a run for their money. Chariot. I just let myself fall into a daze while the old man on stage went on about start of the year bull.

I was just barely aware enough to notice a bit of disappointment on Chariot's face when he said it would be a couple of weeks before the Sport's clubs started recruiting new members. Doesn't make any difference to me; I broke that guy's jaw because I couldn't control the strength boost I got from my Persona, and I have a tendency to end up breaking equipment in any sports that need them. Still, that'd be better than showing off how fast I run. That would lead to trying to explain something I'd rather they not know anything about.

Screw you old man, I only got three of my twenty hours of sleep Sunday because of the move, and I'm gonna end up hallucinating soon if I don't rest today.

"Hey." Some stupid ass wants to die. I turned around in my seat and looked at him. Brown hair, a plain and easy to forget face. Devil. "You're that guy who came to school with Yukari this morning, right?"

Devil Arcana, associated with physical attraction, vice, doubt, instinct, ignorance, egoism. I can have a little fun here. "Yeah."

He grinned like he'd made some big discovery. "I thought so, I saw you two walking together." Then why'd you bother asking? "I got a question. Do you know if she has a girlfriend?" There we go.

"Not sure, I only met her at our dorm this morning."

"I see, I thought you might know, but-"

I cut him off. "That wasn't all." He looked a little puzzled. "_I_ only met her this morning, but you saw the other girl with us, didn't you? The other new student?" He nodded. "They seemed to be getting along pretty well, you should ask her." And now that'll spread, and people will bother her instead of me.

The guy grinned. "Thanks man." Give it a day or two and I could probably convince half the male student body that those two are lovers. "What's her name?"

"Marina Inoue." Probably wouldn't be two hard, I've convinced people of more outrageous things. "Not sure what class she's in though. You should try and catch her on her way out." I pointed to where she was sitting across the aisle, blissfully unaware as she listened to her headphones. Wait a sec. I looked down at my own. Huh, same model.

"Thanks man, I really owe you for this." Now that I think about it, a good third of the rumors I start end up being true even if there's no basis for it. I'd rather not test it though. It used to be that people attacked by Shadows would appear to have been viciously murdered, like they'd been attacked by a wild animal. Then I made a post on the internet about Apathy Syndrome.

No one's body has been affected by a Shadow attack since. Well, except me, but that's because I've been using my Personae to fight back.

Oh look, assembly's over. Time to see how much of an ass my homeroom teacher is.

* * *

I took off my headphones when I saw people start to get up. I'd taken about two steps toward the doors after standing before a guy with XV over his head came up to me like he was about to ask me something, looked me up and down, then left as his cheeks started glowing. Weird.

Anyway, I sat through class, nothing much to talk about. I ended up in the same one as Yukari though, so that's something. Once classes were over with, I heard a guy say "Sup," before I turned to him. Hat with a weird looking picture on it, black hair, goatee, blue shirt. I over his head. He laughed. "Haha, you look like a deer in headlights."

"What do you want?" If he's just here to waste my time then I'll kick his ass. Although it is nice that no one here's given me any grief over the red eyes. Last year some dumbass thought I was a demon… I liked it better when they just thought I was sick.

He seemed disappointed. "Oh c'mon, let me introduce myself, at least." He started grinning again as he did so. "I'm Junpei Iori, nice to meet ya. I transferred here back when I was in the eighth grade." Trying to use something we have in common? Nice try, but no dice. "Sooo I thought I'd check up on ya, make sure you weren't freaking out or anything on your first day."

Yukari came up to us and sighed. "At it again, huh? Honestly, is there any girl you _wouldn't_ hit on?" You realize he's a guy, don't you? "Honestly, did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

He seemed offended by that. "What? But I was just bein friendly."

"If you say so." She turned to me. "Anyway, some coincidence we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?"

I smiled. "It's nice to start the year with a friend." For once.

She didn't seem sure how to respond to that. "I guess so…"

Junpei ended the awkward moment threatening to start by reminding us, "Uh, hello? Did you forget I'm in this class too? C'mon, lemme in on the fun!" Please tell me that didn't come out right… "By the way, do you two know each other? I heard you two came to school together this morning. A couple a cuties like you, walking side by side…" I saw his expression change as he went into a special place in his head. "The whole class was buzzing about you." And probably about Minato too, seeing as he was on Yukari's other side, but you'd rather make it seem like we were single or with each other.

"Ugh, could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that. I mean, I'm used to it," Wait; you're used to rumors about being a lesbian? "but she just got here, you know? Don't you feel bad, spreading rumors like that?" Junpei didn't seem quite sure how to respond to that slight chewing out, so she started talking to me again. "Hey, about last night…" Don't do this Yukari. "You didn't say anything about" I mean, I know what you're talking about, but Junpei's right there! At least don't say exactly what we both know you mean. "You-know-what, right?"

Okay, that could have been worse, but it isn't like you've completely screwed us over with that. "Nope."

She sighed with relief and said, "Good." Right before leaning forward on my desk and lowering her voice. "Seriously, don't say _anything_ about last night, alright?" I looked at Junpei, who had heard every word.

Wwwaaaaaaaiiiitt for it… "L-last night…?" There we go! Your turn Yukari.

She jumped to her feet. "W-WAIT A MINUTE! Don't get the wrong idea!" I'm not saying a thing. You are an attractive Japanese schoolgirl who told another girl not to say anything about last night in front of a teenage male. You deserve anything that comes of this.

Junpei seemed shocked, as if he'd found something he'd been dreaming of since- Oh. Yeah; male high school student.

"Look, we only met yesterday, and even if you were right, _which you're not_, it wouldn't be any of your business." Good, she's calming down. "I've got to go take care of some stuff for the archery team." She poked Junpei in the chin before telling him, "_Don't_ try anything funny, you got that Junpei?"

Junpei gave me an exasperated look as she walked off and asked, "Sheesh, what is she, your nanny?"

"I know! I mean, who gets that upset over a couple of rumors?"

"Tell me about it. She's so paranoid… Hey, just to clear something up, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on you or anything. If you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!"

He doesn't seem like a bad guy… "I'll remember that."

"Heh, cool. Well, I'll be seeing you around, then."

It wasn't that long until I saw him again. In fact, he practically chased me down a flight of stairs before convincing me to let him walk me back to the dorm. Maybe he's a bit clingy?

He pointed out a bunch of guys in track suits running around once we were outside. "Check out the jocks on the run." I am. "Hey," he drew my attention away from the sweaty athletes. "Did anyone tell you about the athletic clubs yet?" I shook my head. If it was mentioned during the assembly, I didn't hear it over Breakin Through. "Girls can join to, so why not do it if you're interested?" Because I'm not that kind of- oh, you were still talking about the clubs just now. "You'd have to join as a new member though, so you'll have to wait a little while if you want to apply."

He ended up following me all the way back to the dorm. "See ya later!" he shouted. I could tell from his pace that he wasn't in any hurry to get home.

Maybe he isn't just clingy. I ran and caught up with him. "Hey, could you give me a hand picking up some stuff?"

He rolled his eyes. "All right, if you insist." We both knew he wasn't fooling me, but neither of us wanted to say it.

* * *

I lost Inoue and the Magician she was with on a train. Oh well, she'll be back at the dorm sooner or later. I bought a newspaper and went into a restaurant.

Okay, that green duck is creeping me out, but the prices are low.

Holy crap that is a high stacked burger. There has to be like thirty separate burgers in that thing. I went up to the counter. "I'll have that."

The burger was delicious. I also have a drink sitting on the floor beside me that I can just lean to the right and sip through the straw without leaning down. Now if only I could be sure what the hell I just ate.

I read through my paper on the train, then rolled it up and stuck it in my jacket pocket before getting back to the dorm. I saw Kirijo sitting on the first floor and sat on the couch opposite her.

"I see you're finally back." What do you expect? I wasn't going to waste any of that giant burger. "You shouldn't be out alone at night, it's dangerous." I nodded along before pulling my newspaper out and opening it to read an article on Apathy Syndrome.

"Of course it is, I could trip and fall." I dropped the rest of the paper on the table between us, stood up, and took the article trying to show a pattern to Apathy Syndrome up to my room. The top page was lying in a way that ensured she'd be able to read it without a problem, and had a footnote about a man who broke his arm when he fell asleep and crashed his car. It was the worst thing to happen in the area all year aside from A.S. I passed a guy with grey hair wearing a vest on my way to the stairs. "Or I could wreck my car!"

Once I reached my room I dropped the article on the floor and started doing pushups while waiting for 12:01. Today's going to be my sleep day this week.

As soon as it passed and my head hit the pillow, I was standing again. The fact that I was in a world even more twisted than the Dark Hour wasn't a problem for me. Neither was the fact that I was standing with a window beside my feet, staring straight ahead at a road, and with the starless sky behind me. This was the only place in the world I could truly feel safe.

This… is My world.

I felt something moving beneath my feet before a red gloved hand reached out the window. I leaned down and helped pull the person it was attached to out. I looked the red humanoid in the eye as it floated over the wall. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Vulcanus?"

He seemed almost angry with me, probably because I knew he couldn't talk and was asking him questions anyway. He glared at me as he raised an arm, raising a blue door out of the wall I stood upon.

"You want me to go through it?"

The door opened before either of us could do anything. Once my eyes adjusted to the blue light I saw a man dressed in blue, gold eyes, light hair, stupid hat. "Hey Chet!"

Chet practically growled at me. "I've told you before; That is Not my Name."

"Really? Cause I'm pretty sure your name's Chet."

I knew for a fact that anywhere but here, this guy could tear me to shreds without doing anything but opening a book. I wouldn't dare antagonize him like this if I was in the human world, or in his master's. He gave up and sighed. "My master wishes to speak with you in regards to your contract."

I followed him through the door.

Ah, my least favorite club in the world. "So, where're Liz and Marshmellow?" His sisters, Elizabeth and Marianne. The younger of the two sisters was the only person in here I liked. The other two siblings, I just liked to piss off.

"They are not here." Weird, there's almost never anything someone would need to leave the Velvet Room for. Asshole's probably just trying to keep me away from his precious sister.

"Mind telling me why I'm here?"

"It's about your contract."

"This being the mysterious contract that I was forced into without being told of its contents because I had a dream as a little kid then managed to survive?"

"Yes." Alright then Chet.

"What about it?"

"My Master wishes to speak with you about it."

"The old man or the masked bastard?"

"The Master of the human mind." Masked Bastard then.

He disappeared when I reached the bar. Heh, you're still an ass. The man standing on the other side of the counter was wearing a red suit, seemed to have brown hair (though that could easily have been an illusion), and concealed his face with a white mask, half of which had a blue butterfly wing covering it. I picked up the glass he'd poured in preparation for me, then promptly spit it out. "What the Hell man? Apple juice?"

I swear to God that bastard's smirking at me behind that mask. "You're still underage."

I tossed the glass behind me. "And what I do here that doesn't kill me won't do a damn thing to my body." That glass got some serious distance before it hit a wall. "Now what do you want?"

"I just want to make sure you don't do anything stupid. I've been in-" No sound came from him as the butterfly wing on his mask began to flutter. "Damn non-intervention clause." Don't ask me how he can drink bourbon through his mask; I try not to think about it myself. "Anyway, I just figured you deserved to know that it will likely be some time before you're called here again."

"What the hell happened?" The butterfly wing started fluttering again instead of giving me an answer. I saw a figure moving among the blue, though I didn't recognize her until she was close. "Oh, hey Liz."

She just looked at the Masked Bastard.

"Please give her your cell phone." Puzzled, but knowing from experience that there was no point arguing with him, I gave Elizabeth my phone. "I will be taking a long rest soon, so I will no longer be able to open this door for you each night."

Shit, that could be a problem. I might not get along with the old man very well, but I still need him to fuse Personae. Elizabeth returned my phone to me.

"Because of this, I have altered your phone." No you didn't, you had her do it. I saw you give her the order! "It will function in the time between days, and you will find an additional number inside. Simply call it when you require someone to open the door for you."

I pocketed the phone. "Is there anything else you needed to say?"

The Masked Bastard answered, "I just want you to remember that there is a balance to all things, including the power you have been blessed with."

Some 'blessing' it's been. "Like the destruction of my life in order to give me the power to do the same to others? Yeah, I've noticed that things have a tendency to try and balance themselves out." And sometimes, that balance is restored by removing everything that was being measured. "Later Liz!" I could feel the Velvet room beginning to shift behind me as I left it. If I'm lucky, it'll be a few months before I have to deal with that ass.

* * *

I take no credit for Theodore being called Chet, as far as I know that was started by Strain42, creator of the amazing work P3FTW. Elizabeth will probably be the only resident of the Velvet Room Minato refers to by the correct name.


	3. Chapter 3

I practically jumped out of bed the next morning in great condition. Giving myself a quick once over, I noticed that my collarbone had healed up nicely. Muscle soreness is gone, and, checking the mirror, my eye isn't bloodshot. Real shame I only get to feel this refreshed once a week… No helping it. I'd rather have one night of restful sleep a week than spend every night watching how I lost every member of my family.

Damn it, I'm getting myself depressed again. I grabbed the article from last night and the red notebook I took from His office all those years ago and dropped both in my school bag.

* * *

I saw Minato sitting on a bench outside the school gates with a red notebook.

I heard a couple of loud girls talking. "Hey, did you hear the rumor?" Please tell me it has nothing to do with me…

"Oh, something about… a bathroom?" Okay, nothing to do with me.

I could see the two now. "N-no! Not that one! I meant the one about that first year student. Not only did she stop coming to school, but all she does is sit in her room and stare at the walls. All day!" The other girl doesn't seem to be buying it. "And whenever her mother tries to talk to her, she just starts muttering 'It's coming… It's coming…!'"

"Huh, how about that?" Yep, definitely not buying it.

"You don't believe me!" The one who had done most of the talking was acting offended, but it didn't look like she believed it either.

Now what the hell is Minato scribbling in that notebook?

* * *

I tuned out Toriumi. She isn't even talking about anything relevant to the lesson, just going on about how she'd rather be teaching about some other author. I'd heard about a third of what she'd said without really paying any attention before she started shouting at Junpei. "… Were you listening! Who did I say was my favorite author?"

He honestly had no idea, so he turned to me to try and get the answer. Why is he asking me? I wasn't paying attention! I wrote the name of the only author I could name off the top of my head and held it up so he could see. "It's Aya Nishitani, right?" Judging by the look on her face, it isn't.

I felt so bad about giving him the wrong answer I ended up paying for his lunch. Damn bleeding heart.

I headed straight back to the dorm on the same train as Minato.

* * *

I spent the entire school day trying to figure out what the hell the things in here meant. Ekoda probably thought I was taking a lot of notes in his class, but I honestly wasn't paying any attention to him. I was focused on these old papers. Some of the things in here were at least eighty years old! But still, there's info on what they were investigating before the crash and, more importantly, everything I've found out about Shadows, Personae, the hour between days; anything that could be useful… Even Tadashi Satomi's notes.

I was on the train back to the dorm when I figured out the connection. If it were still possible for me to make facial expressions without a conscious effort, someone would have probably ended up calling a doctor. I flipped back through to notes written about ten years ago… just a little after the accident… before holding a place there and flipping forward to a blank page.

I started drawing a crude map of the country, with sections shaded to represent the distribution of Apathy Syndrome cases relative to local populations… There's no doubt about it, this place is where the damn center of it is. I'll finally be able to find something! This is the only real lead I've had in four years… I can't give up on it now. Even if the bastards responsible aren't here anymore, there has to be some kind of evidence left…

Damn, this'd be a lot easier if I could use the old family connections, but I'm not exactly on good terms with the only one of them that still knows I exist. Guess I may have to call _him_ soon. He should have connections in the area. I just hope those connections are to the right half of the city.

I'll deal with that later, just hit my stop.

* * *

I followed Inoue back to the dorm, and saw Takeba sitting in the lounge with a guy I wasn't sure whether to classify as sophisticated gentleman with glasses or creepy old man with a mullet. He seemed to be trying for the first, but the hair is making it difficult not to think of him as the latter. Takeba noticed us first. "Oh, they're back."

"So, these are our new guests…" Creepy old man with a mullet it is then. It's weird though; _that_ one of all Personae seems to be resonating with him. "Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki," he introduced. "I'm the chairman of the board for your school." You mean the school owned by the Kirijo Group whose heiress happens to be staying in this dorm? "'Ikutsuki', hard to say, isn't it?" I've said things more difficult to pronounce. "That's why I don't like introducing myself." He chuckled at what he likely thought was a funny joke of some sort. "Even I get tongue-tied sometimes… Please, have a seat."

This guy reminds me a little of that therapist I drove insane that one time.

Once Inoue had taken a seat on the couch beside Takeba and I threw myself into the chair opposite Creepy, he started talking again. "I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations." I think that was directed at both of us. "However, it may take a while longer before you receive proper room assignments."

I met him eye to four eyes and told him, "I don't mind staying here." It'd be easier to figure out if the younger Kirijo knows anything here. There's also the fact that it would take a lot of effort that I don't feel like making to move all my crap again. Glancing to my right, I was pretty sure Inoue agreed with me about the second part.

"Well, this is a Co-Ed dormitory." I figured that out when I saw the other guy here. "If circumstances permit, there wouldn't be any problem with you staying here." Circumstances like me being a Persona User? Or will anyone that knows there's twenty-five hours in a day do? "Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

Quite a few things, seeing as you probably work for Kirijo, but I'd have to give myself away to get any answers about that. I wasn't sure what, if anything, I should ask until Inoue asked, "Why are you here?" I'd like to know that myself, but I didn't want to risk asking.

"To welcome you, of course." She seemed as skeptical as I did about the chairman of the board coming to personally welcome a couple of transfer students. "Speaking of which… Where's Mitsuru, Yukari?"

"She's upstairs." She answered.

"As diligent as always. Although, it wouldn't hurt to come down and say hello… Do you have another question?"

He was talking to Inoue, but I asked before she could say anything. "Who else lives here?" If I have an actual identity to go with the face, it might be easier to feel a Persona.

"There are only five students living in this dorm; the three of you," I know them, don't feel anything, "Mitsuru," met her, felt something inconclusive, "And a senior named Akihiko Sanada." Haven't been introduced to him yet, probably the albino I saw last night. Didn't bother checking for a Persona, would have screwed up the effect of what I was going for with Kirijo. "Is there anything else?"

I leaned back. I couldn't ask anything about the Hidden Hour without raising suspicion. "The other night," Inoue, apparently, has no such reservations. "I saw something… odd." She didn't seem like an idiot, so the only reason she would ask about that would be if she knew, or at least thought, someone else would support her about it.

"You saw something strange?" She nodded. "Like what?" She didn't offer any kind of explanation for what she saw, but Yukari seemed pretty tense. So they both have at least some knowledge of it… Seeing that she wasn't going to elaborate, Ikutsuki waved it away saying, "You were probably just tired. I wouldn't worry about it. It's bad for the complexion you know."

Something doesn't seem right here. I rubbed my right eye to give me an excuse to have the lid closed and focused with the eye behind my bangs. I ignored the two glowing orbs to my right and focused on the grey silhouette behind Ikutsuki's white outline. I moved my finger behind my bangs and pulled my left eyelid shut before letting it snap back open. Instead of seeing what was before me, I saw the side of Ikutsuki's face and, past that, a tired looking teenager with blue hair covering his left eye and his hand covering the right. Perfect.

My right eye opened again and my vision returned to normal as he asked, "Is that all?" Inoue and I both nodded. "Then, I hope you have a successful school year." He stood up. "If you'll excuse me…" He started toward the stairs, but stopped behind Inoue as if something just occurred to him. "You should go to bed early. You know what they say; the early bird catches the bookworm!" That was when I realized that someday I would have to kill this man. "Please excuse the pun." Inoue looked at me and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. _Not a chance in hell_.

We both turned to Takeba, begging her to say that that had been a once in a lifetime thing. "Ugh, you get used to his lame jokes." I give you Yukari Takeba; Destroyer of All Hope.

With a dejected sigh, I went to my room and started reading through my notebook. There were a few pages worth of some interesting things about a Soulless Army.

Once a few minutes had passed, I closed my right eye and focused on what I could see from Ikutsuki's shadow.

"_Working hard?" He'd walked into a room I didn't recognize, but I'm pretty sure that it was in the dorm. Damn it, move so I can see who else is in there Ikutsuki! He walked further into the room, standing before a console. Well well, there's Kirijo. "So, how are they doing?"_

_I looked at the screen they were focused on and saw myself, sitting on the bed with my notes in front of me. I reached back and rubbed my neck with my right hand. Yep, this video is live. "He went up to his room right after you left and started going over his notes. She went to bed a little while ago. She's asleep now." Oh joy, they have Inoue on camera too. "Mr. Chairman, do you think they're…?"_

"_Well, let's wait and see. The Dark Hour is approaching." I was right… they _do_ know about it, even if they aren't Persona Users. "Hmm, she's still sleeping; and he is still going over his notes as if nothing happened. He must already be rather accustomed to the Dark Hour. Any ordinary people would have been transmogrified into coffins."_

_Kirijo must know this, right? I heard another voice ask, "So that means they…"_

"_He's obviously not bothered by it. And as you can see, she's definitely experiencing the Dark Hour, even if she is asleep. The only question that remains is whether or not they have the potential. Although… they must. Otherwise, they would have been preyed on by now." So they know about the Shadows too…_

_The third voice spoke up again. "Scary…" She sounds familiar, but I can't quite place that voice. If Ikutsuki'd just move…_

"_In any case, we should continue to monitor them for a few more days." I started moving my head around, depending on the screen showing my room to tell me when I was facing it._

_I heard Kirijo say "Yes sir" before I found it._

_I heard the third voice say, "I feel kinda bad though, spying on them like this," as the portion of myself I'd placed in Ikutsuki's shadow returned to my body._

There it is, inside the vent above the door. Unless everyone involved setting up this surveillance was an idiot, there should be at least two other cameras in a room this size; and at least one of them should have one of the others in view. There's probably a couple of audio bugs in here too.

* * *

I showered before bed.

"Mistress…"

I found myself floating down a black and white checkered hallway until I reached a blue door, "Mistress Marina Inoue…" which opened and enveloped me in a warm, blue light. I didn't remember shutting my eyes, but I opened them and saw a balding man with white hair, bloodshot eyes, and a nose that looked as if it might be better positioned in place of a different appendage.

His hands were folded in front of his face like Gendo Ikari, and the nose passed right over them. There was a table covered by a cloth the same color as the carpet and the doors on either side of me, and behind him was a wire fence, past which… Am I on an elevator? I heard a bell toll. I'm on an elevator with walls made of wire, alone, with a creepy old man.

I'd like to think that anyone in my situation would have yelped and jumped back.

Of course, since I was sitting, I just fell back and hit my head on the floor. "My apologies. Did I startle you?" _YES!_ As I pulled the chair back into its proper position he started talking again. "Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor… I am de_lighted_ to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place."

The contract I signed the night I arrived at the dorm is sitting on the table between us.

_I chooseth this fate of mine own free will_

_THAT'S_ what that said!

Igor ignored my internal dilemma and continued speaking. "Henceforth, you shall be welcome here, in this Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so." Unique ability? You mean the floating numbers? "I only ask one thing in return; that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make."

He stopped talking for the first time in what seemed like a couple of minutes, giving me the opportunity to ask, "Is this a dream?" He said something about dream and reality.

The old man seemed amused by the question. "Precisely. You are fast asleep in the real world. This visit of yours is merely a dream. However, you will soon come here of your own accord."

"How am I supposed to do that without knowing how I got here in the first place?"

"You seem far more eager than _he_ did." He smiled as he put his hand into his pocket… and quickly pulling out a blue key. "Hold on to this." His hand began to glow, and the key appeared in my hand. "Unfortunately, the other residents of this room could not be present for your arrival. But I'll make sure you are properly introduced to one of them. Next time, perhaps."

I heard a voice that sounded like Igor's creepy voice, but there was different, more inviting, tone to it. "Till we meet again…"

* * *

My eyes shot open and were immediately hit by sunlight. I raised my right hand to give them a bit of protection and saw what the cold feeling in my hand was.

I was still holding the key from that weird dream.

This is either going to be awesome, or one of the worst years of my life.

I sat up, wondering why I was waking up to the sun in my eyes instead of my alarm.

Didn't I set that alarm to go off _before_ eight?

Damn it…

* * *

I ran into Junpei at the gate. "Yo… man, I'm so sleepy today. In times like these, it's best to sleep during class!"

"I know, right? That awesome feeling of being completely recharged…"

"Yeah," he agreed. "The only problem is we're screwed later for missing the lecture." A look of horror crept across his face. "Oh man, we have Classic Lit today, don't we?" I nodded. "Damnit, that means we got nasty old Mr. Ekoda." Never met him before; haven't heard anything good about him though. "And today was looking so good, too."

"What are you talking about?"

He waved his hand around. "Just look! The sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, we're young; it was the perfect day!" We headed in when we heard the bell. Once we'd stuffed our shoes into the locker and changed into our slippers, Junpei spoke up again. "Hey, listen to this." A guy with grey hair looked up when Junpei said that, and seemed to be glaring at my cap wearing friend. "Oh, wait! I wasn't supposed to say anything about that." He laughed a little. "Sorry."

We went into class.

"Ahem… I'm Mr. Ekoda. I'll be teaching you about the Classic Literature of good old Japan all year. Some people say Classic Lit isn't relevant to everyday life, but oh, how they're wrong. The students, the other teachers…" Good to see the teachers here are smart enough to tell which subjects are bull. "Wrong, wrong, wrong! Nobody really understands Classic Lit."

He was too boring to tell if he was actually a good teacher.

* * *

Yukari dragged me along to Paulownia Mall after class. Not that there was anything else I had to do, but…

"Have you come here before? A lot of Gekkoukan students come here after school. There's a karaoke box and a CD shop. Oh, and a really great café, too! There's also a nightclub, but that's kinda not for us yet."

Looks like a good place to kill some time. Oh look, arcade.

I need to get some spending money. Apparently, there're openings at a couple of these stores.

* * *

_Don't ease your pace / 'cuz enemy's brutal _

_Moment of truth / There ain't no truce _

_You're the only one / One world, One love _

_But the battle goes on / Shadows of Mass Destruction_

Really need to change my ring tone. I answered the damn phone. Damnit, Honda again. "What is it now?" I was pretty sure already, it wasn't like it was the first time he'd asked to take off because his kid was going into surgery. "I already told you, I have no problem giving you the day off- What? Damnit, I can't give you two weeks and you know it… Well, last time he had this procedure you were only gone for four days… Fine, take as long as you need." I snapped the phone shut.

I don't have time to deal with that guy and his family problems.

I turned the damn phone off.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I hate the guy; his kid's just in and out of the hospital so damn often, I'm lucky if I can get him to show up two weeks in any given month. Still, I guess dealing with this kind of crap is my own fault for telling them that if they had a problem, they could come straight to me. Still, this isn't the night for them to talk to me.

It's a full moon tonight.

* * *

Yeah, chapter's shorter, but I didn't want to cut off the chapter in the middle of a Full Moon with only one Shadow. And also, I'm very disappointed in anyone who didn't realize who the masked bastard Minato was talking to last chapter was. And yes, he only sleeps one night a week.

Deep Space Cowgirl: The only part of your review I can answer is that Minato will have a good reason to want Marina to become stronger than him. Anything else would be a spoiler for people who knew what to look for.


	4. Chapter 4

Rating increased due to implied child molestation and an increasingly liberal use of the word Fuck.

Deep Space Cowgirl: Only people who have, had, or will have the ability to use multiple Personae will have narration privileges. Make of it what you will. It could have been Marina, Minato, Tatsuya, Nanjo, Baofu, Maya... It's a pretty long list. Note: Multiple Personae does not equal Wild Card. It's just one of the privelages they have. And yes, it might have been him too. I'll leave you to guess who it was. I'll also try to make it clear who's narrating unless I'm deliberately keeping who that is a secret.

* * *

I was woken by a loud noise.

Let me sleep damnit…

I sighed into my pillow.

I won't be able to sleep until I see what that hell that was. I got out of bed and walked over to look out the window, my body shivering in response to leaving the warm bed. Wait a sec…

Green tint? Check.

Blood in the alley? Check.

I walked over to my nightstand.

Electronics not working? Check.

What could have made a sound like that now? There shouldn't be anyone around _to_ make a sound now.

I heard someone trying to break down my door. "WAKE UP!" Yukari seems pretty worried. "Sorry; I'm coming in." The door opened to reveal Yukari, fully dressed with a spear in one hand, a sword in the other, a red armband, and that gun sitting in a holster she'd strapped to her thigh. "I don't have time to…" she trailed off.

The door also revealed my current state of undress to her.

"So… you sleep naked."

I just nodded as I dug through a drawer for a pair of panties.

She shook off her surprise. "I don't have time to explain," she started as she approached me. "We've gotta get out of here, Now!"

I was about to ask what the hell was going on before the building shook while I was on one leg. I fell face first into the blouse I wore yesterday and grabbed it, standing up. "Fine." This obviously isn't the time to be asking questions.

* * *

I slapped myself in the head as I tore my door open. "You damn idiot!" I knew the strongest Shadow would come after me tonight, and I stayed put like always. Why the Hell did I stay here?

"Because you don't care about anyone but yourself." I turned around and saw a brunette woman standing in a space that had been empty a second ago. I'm not sure what was worse about her appearance; the fact that several patches of skin had been burnt off with her clothes, or the scolding look on her face. "You always were a selfish little brat. You put up a good show back then; you even had your own mother fooled. But now I realize that the only one you care about is you; everyone else is a tool to build yourself up with or a toy to abuse so you can feel better about yourself."

I ignored my mother's corpse and continued down the hall. There are people at stake here.

I found myself wondering if I should go down and kill whatever was moving the building, or go upstairs and warn the other people in the dorm. That decision was made for me when I looked up to see Takeba leading Inoue, who was carrying a spear. Any normal guy would have either been looking up Takeba's skirt or focusing on the fact that Inoue was wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a blouse with only a couple of buttons done.

I wasn't even paying attention to the sword Takeba had in her hand.

The gun strapped to her thigh warranted far more attention.

* * *

"_I'll tell you one more time, brat," the bastard said in the drunken slur I'd grown accustomed to. "Get outta my fuckin way!" He was reaching for something on his belt._

"_No!" I was shaking. I hadn't been this scared when I saw mom die. But I sure as all Hell wasn't letting this sick sunnova bitch near my little sister._

_He pulled out his gun, placed the barrel right in front of my left eye, and pulled the trigger._

"_ANIKI!"_

* * *

Stop letting yourself get so damn distracted every time you see a damn firearm!

It feels like something's drilling through my skull…

I must not have seemed very steady, because Takeba rushed down and grabbed my shoulder. She seemed to be focusing a little more on getting the message to Inoue than me, but I could tell she was talking to both of us. "Gotta get downstairs, we can get out through the back door." She was about to start down the stairs before turning back to me, offering the sword to me with her other hand a lot closer to that gun than I'd like. "Take this, just in case."

I shook my head. "I can defend myself without a weapon." If you count Persona as fighting unarmed. "I'm not taking a weapon from someone who needs it more than I do." The fact that I have my own weapon is also irrelevant.

"T-thanks." She probably thinks I want her to be able to defend herself as best she can. That isn't untrue, but I really just want her to use something besides the damn lump of metal on her thigh.

* * *

Takeba was the only one breathing heavily when we reached the back door. Not that it should be held against her or anything; she's just on the archery team. Inoue is obviously in pretty good shape, and I'm used to doing this at faster speeds, over longer distances, in worse physical condition.

"Alright, we should be safe now-" she stopped talking. Judging by her eyes looking to her left at a wall, someone's talking to her. "Y-yes, I hear you." An earpiece designed to work in these conditions? Telepathy?

Don't give me that look. I've been using magic by crushing a card in my hand for years; telepathy is more likely than electronics that work right now.

"WHAT?" There's no way in hell she just heard a good thing. Probably has something to do with whatever's trying to break down the door we were supposed to escape through.

I propped up a chair beneath the doorknob. It's not like I could use my Persona's strength to move that cabinet over there in front of these two, and I can't freeze the door shut for the same reason.

I don't want to have to fight in front of these two unless there's no other choice.

"L-let's pull back." Takeba's trying to make it seem like she's in control. Can't blame her for that; Inoue looks like she's handling this slightly better, and since I'm not trying to do anything different, I just look bored.

* * *

By the time we reached the second floor, something had broken through a window. "They're downstairs!" Takeba grabbed Inoue's wrist. "W-we've gotta go further up!"

Actually, you two need to go into a room and take the fire escape down to the alley and get the hell away for about fifty minutes while I kill anything in this building that moves. Of course, I can't exactly say that, so I followed them to the third floor.

"I-it's getting closer!" She's panicking, great. "HURRY!"

* * *

The top floor just had a steel door with a keypad lock on it. "Oh yeah, we'll be safe through here." Or you'll open the only entrance the Shadows couldn't easily open themselves. I watched as she punched in the access code.

7377662

I committed the number to memory as I followed the two girls out onto… the roof? Oh c'mon.

Takeba leaned against the door as it automatically locked itself. "Alright, we should be safe now."

Damnit Takeba, don't you realize that they can sense people who feel safe?

I felt the building shake a little beneath my feet. Looking at the far end of the roof, I saw several black hands reach over the edge of the building, and one holding a blue mask that seemed to be looking around before settling its gaze on us.

Based on the way it was moving, I thought it was about to pull its body onto the roof.

There was no body, just a mass of arms.

I raised my open right hand, ready crush the card that would appear in it. There were a couple of blue sparks, too dim for Takeba or Inoue to even notice that I'd tried to do anything, but there was no other effect. I swear to God, this has _never_ happened to me before.

Inoue was backing away, while Takeba was getting ready to draw the gun. "I don't suppose either of you have ever dreamed of a butterfly?" I took their silence as a 'No' to my almost nonchalant question. "Of course." I drew the sword I'd been keeping hidden. "Guess that means this Shadow's all mine." Takeba seemed shocked that I knew what they were called.

The Shadow pulled out a dozen swords, each of which was easily as long as I was tall.

God forbid that Masked Bastard let something be _easy_ for me.

I pushed my bangs back, revealing my left eye. Arcana Magician, Demonic rank: 7, Abilities: Cleave, Maragilao, Agidyne, Sukukaja, Tarukaja, Rakunda. How the fuck does a level 7 Shadow have Dyne level magic?

And me? One sword, two people with little to no defense I'll have to protect, no support to be expected from either of them, and no Persona.

Great. I was getting kind of bored.

I charged across the roof, sword ready to be used for offense or defense. When one of the arms wielding a sword shot out to cut me in half, I received a brutal reminder as I slid to my right and severed the limb.

I don't have a Persona giving me any strength, speed, or endurance. I'm a regular damn human with a weird eye fighting something with high level fire abilities, and several swords.

I dove out of the way of a huge fireball, and then scrambled out of the path of a pair of swords. I only managed to cut through one arm before having to duck beneath a wave of fire.

I just barely managed to bat away the sweep of a sword coming in behind the fire, ran forward, rolled out of the path of a fireball, and sprung forward ready to cleave the mask in two.

Then I felt the sword go into my back.

* * *

Yukari pulled the gun out and shot herself in the forehead when she saw the sword coming in from behind him, but Minato was skewered. I'm not sure what was happening at this point, and could only stand back and watch as what looked like a pillar of energy rose up, knocking the arm that had been holding the sword away.

I stared in shock as Yukari pulled the trigger again with the same effect, but this monster-Shadow, Minato called it- just seemed to be getting angry. It left Minato bleeding on the floor as it rushed toward us. I backed back as Yukari gasped, about to pull the trigger again before the now-empty hand shot out and knocked her away.

I took another step back and saw Yukari's gun by my foot.

I saw the creepy kid in prison stripe PJs from the other night. He made a gun with his right hand and put the extended finger to his temple. "Go on…"

I picked up the gun, cradling it in both hands.

It's cold.

It's heavier than I thought it would be.

I could feel my pulse speeding up.

My breaths were shaky.

The gun was trembling more than it had been when Yukari was trying to aim it at me.

I swallowed before placing the cold metal barrel to my right temple, where the little boy had shown me.

I let out a calm breath.

"Per…So…Na…"

I smiled as I pulled the trigger.

I felt a bullet that was cold as ice and lit my mind ablaze pass through my skull, but instead of bone and blood spraying out, I heard glass break as blue shards flew out with a mist of the same color and began to circle around me.

_**Thou Art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**From the Sea of Thy Soul, I Cometh**_

_**I am Eurydice, Daughter of Phoebus Apollo**_

The being behind me let out a roar as I kept my insane grin.

I haven't felt a rush like this since-

"Uwagh…!" I fell to my knees as a splitting pain went through my skull. It's like something's trying to tear itself free. I turned and saw a woman in a nearly transparent gown that probably wouldn't cover anything if it wasn't glowing too brightly to try looking directly at. A pair of white hands reached out of her mouth, almost like they were trying to peel off her face.

As the arms stretched apart, I began coughing blood and Eurydice was torn to bloody shreds.

Floating in her place was a larger being with clothes completely black save its bleach-white helmet.

It gave a roar filled with bloodlust, hatred… _hunger_, that put the one Eurydice had given off to shame. As it flew forward, I knew its name.

Thanatos cut the blue mask of the Shadow in half before it began to tear into the dying body.

I heard Yukari gasp behind me as a flailing piece flew past my head and landed in front of her, but I ignored her. This feels too damn _good_ to bother with anything else.

Thanatos faded away as the Shadow's body dissolved, and I vaguely noted that the sword that had been holding Minato off the ground had also dissolved.

I heard Yukari worriedly ask, "Is it over?" behind me. As I saw two blue masks crawling toward Minato's body, I shook my head as I picked up the spear I didn't remember dropping. I ran forward to meet them.

They were moving pretty slowly, so I was feeling confident enough to keep running and stab into one of them. Its body seemed to melt around the wound and a claw shot out of the black mass that face seemed to be resting on. I lost the spear as I jumped back, trying to ignore my bleeding leg. I held the gun to my temple again. "PERSONA!"

Eurydice flew out and raised her arms, sending half-a-dozen glowing tags at the Shadow that I hadn't attacked. Every one of them stuck to the Shadow's body before it dissolved into nothing. I tried repeating the process on the other one, but it just kept moving. I started moving back until I nearly tripped over something.

I looked down to see what it was and grinned. I bent over and lifted Minato's sword before running at the remaining enemy, cutting off the outstretched claw before stabbing the sword into where I thought I saw another limb starting to come out as hard as I could. I braced my leg against the hilt of the blade and leaned down to tear the mask off the black body, then snapping it over my knee. If you ever end up in the same position, just stomp on the mask; it's hard as hell.

With the mask destroyed, the Shadow's body began to dissolve just as they other two had. I looked back at Yukari and smiled as I fell into what may have been a puddle of water turned into blood, or just real blood coming out of Minato's gut. Either way, I'm never wearing this shirt again.

* * *

I started struggling to get up when I heard Takeba apologizing. Something about, not being able to protect them.

"No, no, don't trouble yourselves over the dumbass who got himself impaled." I looked up and saw three shocked faces. Well, two shocked faces and the back of Takeba's head. "I'm fine." The guy with silver hair I saw before started walking over to try and help me out before I raised my arm. I started digging around in my pocket. Where the hell is that damn rock? There it is. "I said I was fine." I crushed the stone to powder in my hand and slammed it against my injury, healing it instantly.

Really wish I could have saved that damn thing, but I'm pretty sure that sword went through my liver. Rather heal that now than wait until someone slits my throat.

I looked at Inoue. Eurydice, of the Fool Arcana. Whichever one of you is making that racket, shut the hell up. Takeba was kneeling over her, trying to wake her up without shaking her. "You aren't going to wake her up like that." Her worried face looked up at me, probably wondering why I would say something like that. I sighed. "Don't you remember how exhausting it was the first time you summoned one?" I ignored the fact that summoning my Persona, while draining, also felt more painful now than it had back then. I'm just used to it now. "You should still get a doctor to take a look at her leg though." It looks like it's bleeding pretty bad, but that could just be the blood that shows up every night.

The guy looked like he was going to protest being bossed around by the first one to go down, but instead he walked over and slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder.

As I watched him carry her downstairs, I could feel Kirijo burning a hole in the back of my head. "I think we need to have a little talk."

I turned, bangs obscuring my left eye once again. "Funny. I was thinking the same thing."

I followed Kirijo and Takeba down to the fourth floor. Huh, this is the room they use to spy on us while we sleep. Ikutsuki was waiting in the chair closest to the window. Tower. "Hello Arisato. We have a few questions for you."

* * *

So now we've seen Minato's mom. She seems nice, doesn't she? And there's an actual plot related reason Minato's Persona didn't come out. Even he won't know what it is for a while, but the reason is there.


	5. Chapter 5

"If you have questions for me, then ask them."

He's sitting there just for the glare off his glasses. "Why you aren't dead seems like as good a place to start as any."

"I'm not going to believe that no one here has any healing abilities. I happened to have an item on hand that had the same effect." I saw the next question forming on his face. "It's gone now, and I don't happen to have any more. My turn to ask a question." I focused on Kirijo. Empress, Penthesilea, Level 18. "How do you summon Penthesilea?"

That obviously threw her for a moment, but instead of answering, she countered with a question of her own. "How do you know about that?"

"Are you telling me you can't sense mine?" Oh, right. Let's see, who to introduce her to…

PICK ME!

Shut the hell up or I'll fuse you.

Still, Pandora's definitely strong enough to make it clear she can't hold me down if they want to. I stopped bothering to hide my Persona. Ah, now she can sense it. "Personae are so useful, aren't they?" When they stay quiet. That's why I prefer Ares whenever possible; he's usually quiet as long as he gets to kill something.

Meanie.

Fuck you.

You promise?

Not even going to start on the reasons that would be wrong. There are times I wonder if I'd be better off with the murderer.

Quit trying to blame him for something you claim not to have wanted. Everyone in here knows that you consciously desired it, and hell, if any of us wanted it, so did you.

She's certainly proud of herself.

Why shouldn't I be?

"So you already know about that…" Kirijo definitely wasn't expecting someone who was prepared.

Haha, you think you're prepared.

"What else do you know?"

"Aside from the power of Persona, the existence of Shadows, and the thing that happens at midnight; what else is there to tell?" Other than my suspicions that you all had something to do with this, Philemon, my Actual family history...

Your left eye, the other Persona Users you've come across, your inability to control yourself, by which I mean us, your list of victims...

ONE MORE PEEP AND I SWEAR TO **_AZATHOTH_** I'LL FUSE YOU.

No one answered back.

Good.

I'm threatening parts of my own mind with being forcibly merged with other parts to effectively kill them. Does that mean I'm suicidal? Why not? I'm almost everything else.

And Phobos says I'm the one afraid of them.

Maybe he's right. It's not like any of them but Ares and Dionysus do what I tell them to.

I paused as I waited for a Titan to insult me. Oh yeah, I forced all of them to shut up...

Ikutsuki clapped his hands together. "It seems you know about as much as we do then. That makes this much easier."

Kirijo had a better idea of what he was talking about than I did. "Mr. Chairman, you're actually-?"

"Of course. We were going to do so anyway, weren't we?" Takeba's being pretty quiet. Guess she doesn't have any kind of authority here.

Kirijo seemed to relent at that. "But still…" I'm getting the feeling she doesn't like me. The feeling's mutual.

"It's obvious that we both want all this to end, isn't it?" Well, I really don't care one way or another about the phenomena in and of itself; I just want to kill whatever started it. If it'll sustain itself after, then fine. Besides, Shadows will exist as long as humanity does. If we end the Dark Hour, then where will they go? Start wandering around in the normal world? Drop off into another sub-dimension? "Destroying the Shadows is the purpose of this group."

The only way to truly destroy the Shadows would be to destroy the Collective Unconscious. Anything short of it is roughly equivilent to pricking their thumbs. And I really doubt the masked bastard would be too thrilled about the prospect of basically destroying the minds of every sentient being. Hell, there's a chance that even that wouldn't really work. Just create one giant super Shadow.

Kirijo sighed before walking over and pulling a silver briefcase out from behind the console. She placed it on the table, opening it to reveal a red armband and a silver handgun. _S.E.E.S._

So, that's the Evoker Kirijo took the plans and prototype for when they left Nanjo. No wonder he wouldn't tell me anything more about it than that they existed. I wouldn't have used it even if I'd had the option, even though it did take me months to figure out how to force a Persona out. Hell, I could have killed myself doing it the way I do, but

"We'd like you to lend us your strength."

What, so I can be some kind of hit man for the Kirijo Group? "Why should I?" None of them were expecting that response.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Now Takeba speaks up.

"I just don't see the point in joining up with you now. Where's the incentive? After all, I've done well enough on my own for a while." Once someone helped me figure out what the fuck happened.

Ikutsuki had a damn annoying smirk on his face. "Of course, we'll give you some time to decide. We certainly wouldn't expect you to change the way you've been doing things for some time if that's what you're comfortable with. Then again," he added as an afterthought, "It would be awful if you were to meet with us under… unpleasant circumstances." Heh, so I can either join you or be hunted down. 'Two in harmony surpass one in perfection' huh? There's a difference between harmony and forcing the other guy to match you.

I left the contents of the briefcase on the table as I turned to the door. "I'll think about it."

* * *

I woke up sitting before Igor. I'm back in the Velvet Room? Huh.

As I looked around, I noticed that the elevator was going up. Aren't I supposed to _descend _into madness? I sighed to myself. My own subconcious doesn't understand symbolism in the slightest.

And now I'm insulting myself. Lovely

"It's so nice to see you again." At my questioning look, he continued, "You became unconscious after awakening to your Power." So that's what you were talking about last time? "It's nothing to worry about though, so just _relax_." Gotta be honest with you, you don't make that very easy. "By the way… I see Eurydice was the one that heeded your calling." He seems amused by that. "That power is called 'Persona'… It is a manifestation of your psyche."

This chair is really uncomfortable. "Persona? Psyche? I don't get it." I actually had at least a vague idea, but this was a good chance to get some information.

"It may take some time to fully comprehend." I smiled inwardly in anticipation of whatever he was going to tell me. People might say that I tend to wrap people around my little finger, but it'd be more accurate to say that they twist themselves around it after spending a bit of time with me. "But in the future, please do not try and lie to us in order to gain information." He Knows! "We are here to _help_ you. A Persona is a facet of your personality that arises as you react to external stimuli." External stimuli, nice way of saying 'Shooting yourself in the head'. "You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships." I think I've heard that somewhere before. "That being said, your power is still weak."

I kept myself from jumping over the table and strangling him with that damn handkerchief sticking out of his pocket. Instead, I just snapped "Whad'ya mean 'Weak'?"

Didn't I kick that things ass?

"When you use your Persona ability, you must channel your inner strength." So he's saying that I don't really have any kind of strong will? "The ability evolves as you develop your Social Links, your emotional ties with others."

Oh, so he's just saying I don't have any friends. I can't really argue with him there. I can get along with pretty much anyone, but I honestly can't name anyone I'm really close to.

He continued, "The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please, remember that."

So being best friends will give me super strong summon magic? Jeez, it's like something from an RPG.

"Now then, time marches on in your world…"

Damn it, just hold on a sec! I don't know how I got here and I'm not going leaving until I find out how to come back!

As if he could read my mind, Igor went on. "The next time we meet, you will come here of your own accord." That's a load of bull! It could mean that I don't get to return until I figure out how to do it on my own! "Farewell…"

* * *

I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling.

Then I turned to the left and saw up Yukari's skirt. Pink looks good on her.

"Oh, you're awake." She stood up from her seat and walked closer to the bed. "How do you feel?"

Like I haven't bathed in a week. "Why're you here?"

She ignored my question as she smiled. "Thank goodness you came to… How much sleep do you need?" She's venting her frustrations on the girl in a hospital bed. Great. "You've been out for a week! I was so worried about you…" Just me? But Minato looked like he was worse off than- Oh. "You saved my life. I couldn't just leave you." She sat down on my bed. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you except the cut on your thigh. He said you were just exhausted."

It occurred to me that if the rumors about her being a lesbian are true, I'm in no condition to fight her off.

"You just kept on sleeping, and sleeping, do you have any idea how worried I was?" Obviously not worried enough to let me have some peace and quiet after waking up. "Um… I'm… sorry I couldn't do anything… Even though _I_ was the one that was supposed to be protecting the two of you…" She trailed off. "But your power… It was amazing."

Doesn't seem like it was good enough to keep Minato alive though. I couldn't really do much. "What were those things? Those… Shadows?" I asked, using the same term Minato had.

She didn't seem all that surprised that I knew the term. She'd heard Minato say it… last week? "They're what we're fighting against. And the power you used… We call it 'Persona'." Huh, that's what Igor called it too. "We'll explain the rest to you later." She got up to leave, then turned back to me when she was at the door. "And, for what it's worth… I'm sorry."

* * *

Takeba caught me outside the dorm that night. "I still have a day or two to make my decision, right?"

A look of guilt flashed across her face for a moment. "That's… not what I wanted to talk about."

"Then talk." I'm pretty good with people when I see the need to be, but these people, S.E.E.S., were withholding information that could have gotten someone killed.

She flinched a bit at my tone, but continued, "I wanted to tell you that I'm… sorta like you." I looked at her carefully. Yukari Takeba, Lovers Arcana, Persona Io, Level One, Dia. Persona probably isn't what she was talking about. I let her continue. "My dad died when I was little, and my mom and I aren't exactly on good terms… You're all alone too, right?"

They didn't die in the same order yours will, and it probably won't be the same reason either, but I'm the only one left now, thanks to that asshole. "Yeah…"

She sighed. "To be honest, I already know about your past." No, you know about Minato Arisato's officially recorded past. You know nothing about what he's actually been doing for the past ten years, and you know nothing about the Persona User who lost his family within a single week during the March of 2000. "But, it didn't seem fair, so I wanted you to know about mine…"

And now I feel like a lying ass. Still, I couldn't say anything about it, so I let her keep going.

"It was back in '99… There was a big explosion in the area. My dad supposedly died in the blast, but nobody's really sure what happened… He was working for a lab run by the Kirijo Group." One more thing to punish them for. "So I'm hoping if I stick around long enough, I'll find out something. That's why I'm going to Gekkoukan High, and that's why I was there when everything happened." She gave a bitter laugh that I was used to hearing from my own mouth. "Of course, I just panicked and couldn't help either of you… It was my first time fighting them. I'm sorry. This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't such a coward…" She slumped down onto the curb.

She almost looks ready to cry. Shit. Reassuring people never really has been my thing. "Don't worry about it." She looked up. "Even the weakest of Shadows are the physically manifest form of every negative thing about a living being, and that thing last night was like nothing I've ever seen."

Figuring out what the hell it was might be worth considering their invitation. The bastard was stronger than I'd been a couple of years ago. Hell, if I hadn't found an area with stronger Shadows to train against, I probably wouldn't have been able to win even if I _could_ have used a Persona against it. That thing was stronger than a level seven Shadow should have been. Even without Persona, I should have been able to handle anything that wasn't immune to physical attacks on my own up to around level thirty.

I pushed that thought aside as I returned my attention to Takeba. She seemed a little better now. "Thanks. I've… wanted to get that off my chest for a while now."

I flashed what I really hope came across as a reassuring smile. "You ever need a friendly ear, you know who to come to." If her old man was involved with a Kirijo-run project…

She smiled as she stood. "I'll remember that." She has a nice smile. "Oh, by the way; Marina woke up today. It looks like she'll be fine."

"Well, that's good to hear." I turned and walked off. I'm in the mood for ramen. "See you later, Takeba-san."

She spoke from behind me. "Call me Yukari."

Heh, "Yukari-san then."

* * *

I found myself in my own little world when my head hit the pillow. As I looked down upon my empty world, I found myself wondering why I couldn't summon a Persona last week. A card showing the Greek God of War appeared in my hand.

The ability to use multiple Personae without resolving is _supposed_ to be dependant upon the deity that granted it to the user; Philemon. If something happened to him, then it would make sense that I couldn't summon anything, but if that's so, why can I do it now? I sighed. It'd be a lot easier if I could actually talk with the bastard, but according to Elizabeth and Chet, he went on vacation or something. The guy's the fucking master of Psyche! Why does he get a vacation?

"Maybe he just doesn't like ungrateful little shits like you."

I crushed the card in my hand and sent Ares to cut the intruder in half. I turned to face him and saw him grab the blade with his bare hand, wrenching it out of my Persona's hand and stabbing him with it. The blade disappeared as the Persona died, and he pulled something out of his pocket.

So, this bastard wants to try and pick a fight with a Wild Card in a world where my will is the only law? Fine.

I raised my hand and sent black fire rushing at the figure.

It stopped short at the wall of stone he raised from the ground.

"You've gotten sloppy, my boy." I turned just in time to see the blank pale surface where my father's eyes should have been before he emptied a clip into my stomach. "I know how to get you out of my way now."

* * *

My father was a fucking coward.

He ran away from his family obligations, and would have never had anything to do with them or the family business if he hadn't been too big a pansy to keep a man he hated away from his grandchildren.

He's also the only one I'm not completely sure is a hallucination.

All things considered, he's the one I should be absolutely sure isn't really there. Then again, the exact same reasoning could be used in favor of it actually being him.

Is this just my own guilty conscience? Or is what little remains of his soul trying to avenge itself?

I don't have time for this shit.

* * *

Inoue grabbed me by the damn stringy tie and pulled me into Wild Duck Burger at Iwatodai Station. Nice of her to pull it in a way that untied it for me.

I tossed the thing in the trash once she let go of it. "Why the Hell are you up walking around!"

I blinked. Well, winked, but she didn't know that my left eye didn't really close. "Because people laugh at me when I use my arms to drag myself around."

That is not a nice look. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and dragged me closer to her. "You know what I mean. You were impaled by a giant fucking sword! That isn't the kind of thing people just get up and walk around after!" I looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her.

Good. Well, I guess if anyone saw I could always-

"Are you listening?"

I answered honestly. "Nope."

That is a very rude hand gesture. "You aren't going to tell me anything, are you?"

"I'd be happy to tell you things if you asked the right questions."

"And what are the right questions?"

"Ones that aren't stupid." Did her hand just spontaneously triple in size just to make sure I could see which finger she was holding up? I blinked and it was back to normal.

She almost seemed to growl as she asked, "Could you give me an example of a good question?"

I stood and smiled. "Of course I could." Then I left the restaurant.

I like this one. She might be more fun to keep around than to just break.

"BASTARD!" This will be fun.

* * *

I followed the irritating ass back to the dorm. "_Please_ tell me what question I should ask." He handed me what looked like a business card.

"_Who is Darkman?_" I read.

"That is the question." Smartass.

I will not kill the person that can answer my questions until I can be reasonably sure there is nothing else he can tell me. He plopped down on the lounge's couch and laid his red notebook down on the table. He's just flipping through it like I'm not even here!

And why the Hell does the writing start shuffling itself around all over the table whenever I try and focus on it?

"C'mon you bastard, Yukari-chan wanted us upstairs as soon as we got back." He's doing this on purpose.

"And I don't have to be up there until you are, so as long as you stay here, I don't need to move." He smiled.

I grabbed him by his blue bangs and dragged him upstairs.

* * *

I broke free on the third floor and continued on my own. She has a strong grip. Though the fact that I was trying to break her hold on my bangs without them uncovering my left eye could have been part of the problem.

Yukari noticed us as soon as we reached the fourth floor. She must have been waiting for Inoue, but she seemed a little surprised to see me there. "Oh, there you guys are." She gestured to the door. "Go on in."

Inoue went inside.

"So, you've made up your mind?"

"I'm just gonna play this by ear. It's worked for ten years, so why stop now?" Well, it actually didn't start working until a couple of years ago.

At least you admit you're destined to fail.

I don't recall saying anything of the sort, Melpomene.

Search your feelings, you know it be true.

... Who said that?

I got the vague impression that Loki was trying to make me focus on anyone but him. Damnit, he's too strong for me to do anything to punish him until I go to sleep.

She sighed at my answer. "Shouldn't you be a little more focused on this? I mean, why don't you seem glad that there are others like you?"

Why would one serial killer be glad to come across another one in a back alley? "I hit my head when I was little. I need to make an effort for anything but boredom to show." And it still doesn't always look right. "With me, looking bored means I either care to little to bother pretending I care, or I'm too focused to bother showing that I care." Not exactly true, I can make my face look like I'm feeling anything with just the slightest effort and not thinking about it again for days. Boredom is just the one it always resets itself to.

I went inside and saw Yukari sit on the couch beside Inoue. Kirijo was sitting in one of the stool-things on the other side of the table, and Ikutsuki was in his chair. "Where's the other one?"

Kirijo was the one to answer me. "Akihiko went to pick up another one." What, another Persona User?

Yukari seemed shocked by the answer. "Are you serious?"

I heard the door open behind me. Hi albino man. Emperor. Polydeuces. Level 14. "Sorry I'm late." He pointed behind him with his thumb to someone I couldn't see. "This one took a while with his luggage." Sanada looked at me like I was the only one who really needed to hear what he was about to say. "I'll introduce you." A guy with a hat and goatee walked into the room. Magician. "This is Junpei Iori, from class 2-F."

He was chuckling for some reason. "Whazzup?"

"Junpei! Why is _he _here!" Yukari's a screamer.

"Oh yeah, the three of you are in the same class." I looked back and saw a slightly strained smile on Inoue's face. It seems like they all know each other. Guess that makes me the odd man out. Nothing new there…

* * *

My face is stuck…

* * *

Iori addressed us all. "I'm Junpei Iori." We know that, Sanada introduced you less than a minute ago. "Guess I'll be staying here from now on."

Inoue's smile broke. "You've gotta be KIDDING me!"

I don't think Iori picked up on her tone of voice. He just thinks it's funny. "I bumped into him the other night," Sanada started. "He has the potential, but he only awakened to it recently." Newb. Whoever that was, shut the fuck up. "I told him about us, and he agreed to help."

Yukari still seems shocked, but she isn't screaming anymore. "You have the potential? For real?" No, Sanada's just such a dumbass that he'd bring someone who's completely unaware of the Dark Hour and incapable of summoning a Persona into a meeting focusing on those two things.

Actually, if he's spent enough time working for Kirijo, he just might have had enough of his mind and soul sucked out to have thought it would be a good idea.

"Yeah, he found me crying like a baby at the convenience store, surrounded by a bunch of coffins." How fucking sheltered are you if that's enough to make you break down? Okay, that's not fair of me; I can't expect everyone to have the same standards for that as me, but still… "I don't really remember much, but… Man, that's embarrassing." Then why are you bragging about it? "He said that was, y'know, normal in the beginning."

Sanada, Ikutsuki, Kirijo, and Yukari nodded. Inoue looked confused. I gave a dejected sigh. I'd have killed to be able to repress most of 2000. Oh wait. "Some people have all the fucking luck," I muttered. Either no one heard me or they did and ignored me.

"Y'know, being confused, not remembering anything?"

Inoue looked thoughtful. "I don't really remember." Don't remember? Even I remember, even with all the other shit that happened to me!

Iori laughed. "Nice one."

Inoue looked a little indignant at his response. "I'm serious! I don't really remember how I reacted." Hold on a sec…

"When did you awaken?"

She thought about it for a few seconds before answering me. "I think it was about… Nine or ten years ago?" Nine years four weeks and three days.

I laughed to myself. "How have we never met before? I thought I was the only one that had been around for that long." I spent years trying to find someone else before giving up.

I may have seemed to be keeping myself distracted, but I didn't miss the worried looks on Kirijo and Ikutsuki's faces.

Iori whistled. "Damn… You two had to grow up with this?" He continued without acknowledging our nods. "Well, we go to bed pretty early when we're little, so it was usually just an extra hour of sleep, huh?" Inoue nodded again. What the Fuck?

"How the Hell could you sleep knowing those things are out there?"

Iori was the only one here that hadn't fought Shadows on some level. "What, those things? We can kick their asses easy." The fact that he believes that means he only knows they exist, not that he's ever seen them before.

Ikutsuki interrupted us. "I think that's enough introductions." I leaned against the doors as Iori and Sanada went to sit down.

* * *

"Now, let me start off by asking you this…" He seemed to be talking to all of us, but this is really directed at the Minato, Junpei, and me. "Would you believe me if I told you that a day consists of more than twenty-four hours?"

No shit. "Excuse me?" Junpei's actually surprised.

Mitsuru chuckled. "I'm not surprised by your reaction. I suppose it is rather unbelievable. However, the two of you have already experienced this truth first hand." She looked at me. Every night I was up past midnight… Then her gaze shifted to Junpei. When Akihiko found him… "You had to have noticed the signs… All the lights went out… Nothing was working… Coffins lining the city… Didn't you feel like you were in a different time?"

It does feel weird.

She didn't pause long enough for either of us to deliver any kind of response. "That's the Dark Hour. An hour hidden between one day and the next."

"Hidden?" Junpei asked. "Between?"

He doesn't get it.

"I don't get it." Nailed it.

Ikutsuki was the one who answered him. "I know how you feel. Who would believe such a story? But the Dark Hour does exist, and it occurs every night at midnight. I will happen tonight, and every night to come."

Akihiko took over. "Normal people don't realize it, since they're all sleeping inside their coffins. But that isn't what makes the Dark Hour so interesting." He stood. "You saw those creatures. We call them Shadows." I kinda figured that after hearing three people refer to them by the name. "They only appear during the Dark Hour, and they attack anyone not in a coffin." But if everyone who can't defend themselves are in coffins, and they avoid people that can, why are they a problem? "It's our job to defeat them." Why do we have to bother? "Sounds fun, huh?"

* * *

This is the first time I've ever needed to try and restrain an urge to kill a retarded albino cripple.

* * *

Mitsuru stood up and started shouting at him. "Akihiko! You just got-"

**THUD**

Holy shit! I didn't even see him move!

* * *

"You think this is fucking fun!" I shouted. "Fighting things that feed on human minds!" I pulled Sanada up by his hair and deposited him back in his chair. That'll be a hell of a shiner by tomorrow. "Human lives are at stake here, and you're treating it like some kind of fucking game!" I gestured to his ribcage. "I figured you'd have _some_ sense of how serious this is, but obviously I was wrong."

I turned to leave before Yukari cut me off. "Minato-kun, wait." I looked back to see her staring at me. "Akihiko-senpai was out of line, and we're sorry for that." He does look a little ashamed of himself. "I… understand if you don't want to join us now."

"Tch. I never said anything like that." Everyone in the room seemed shocked at that. "It's pretty obvious you need someone with common sense to keep him in line." I looked at Ikutsuki. "I'll be in the room I won't be paying to stay in." Yukari seemed glad I was staying, and Inoue and Iori seemed impressed. Kirijo doesn't really seem to approve, but I don't think she's too pissed about Sanada taking a hit for being a dumbass. As I passed through the door, I felt time stop around me.

**_Thou art I_**

**_And I am Thou_**

**_Thou hast established a new bond_**

**_Thou Shalt Have Mine Blessing When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana_**

Quit fucking around in my head Philemon. You won't like the things you'll find in there.

* * *

I heard Junpei's voice filled with awe from the seat next to me. "He dropped the captain of the boxing team with one punch…"

Even if Akihiko does have injured ribs, he still shouldn't have gone down that easy. Just what the hell is Minato?

Ikutsuki recovered from the awkward silence pretty quickly. "Well, as you may have guessed, we are the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad." Why the hell would I have been able to guess what you psychos call yourselves from this? "Or S.E.E.S. for short. It's a group dedicated to defeating the Shadows."

"How do you fight those things?" I'm guessing with weapons and magic, Junpei.

Ikustuki answered him. "Although rare, there are those who can function during the Dark Hour. Some may even awaken to a power that allows them to fight the Shadows." Eurydice. "That's 'Persona'; the power you used the other night. The Shadows can only be defeated by Persona Users." Then why did Minato charge at that thing? "Which means, it's all up to you guys."

"I see."

Mitsuru addressed Junpei and me. "We've prepared Evokers for you." She placed a giant metal briefcase on the table. "We'd like you to lend us your strength." She opened it to reveal two identical gleaming handguns, exactly like the one I'd used the other day, right down to the engraving, each with a red armband beside it.

"H-hell yeah!" Junpei shouted. "This is totally sweet! It'll be like we're some kind of heroes of justice!" Isn't that kind of thinking what got Akihiko-senpai decked?

I was thinking about this a little more carefully. It seems Minato thinks this is pretty serious, and if I found out anything when I summoned Eurydice, it was that I could die, easily, while doing this. Am I really willing to risk my life like that for people I may never meet?

Damn bleeding heart.

"I'm in." At least there's some eye candy.

I sighed. I'm already looking for a silver lining.

That was the thickest one I could find.

Mitsuru smiled. "Thank you." Why do I get the feeling that I'd have ended up joining no matter what I said? Screw it.

Yukari grinned at me. "Welcome aboard."

Ikutsuki looked more like he had a smug smirk than anything else. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. And regarding your room assignment, why don't you stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the holdup is, but it all worked out in the end." This bastard screwed me over!

"Holdup? But wasn't that…?" I knew it! "Oh, forget it."

Guess I'm stuck with these people now.

**_Thou art I_**

**_And I am Thou_**

**_Thou hast established a new bond_**

**_Thou Shalt Have Our Blessings When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana_**

What the hell? Is that what Igor was talking about? Maybe that jackass knows...

Screw this, I'm going to bed.

It seems like Yukari and Junpei had the same idea. "Y'know, it was a big shock finding out about you guys."

"I wasn't exactly expecting you to show up either." Neither was I Yukari, and the best way to deal with things you weren't expecting is a nice hot shower followed by sleep.

"Still, I'm glad there're people I know in all this." I looked past Yukari at his stubble-covered face. "It could get kinda lonely, y'know?" It wasn't really that bad for me once I got used to it, and I'd never seen the Shadows before I came here. But Minato…

He charged that monster head on without the slightest bit of hesitation. He even had a sword ready. How long has he been doing this alone?

"Well, I bet you guys are psyched, right? Havin me join?"

"Sure, I guess." Junpei didn't seem to like my answer, but Yukari interrupted before he could say anything.

"Oh, I almost forgot Marina-chan, could you wait here for a sec?" She shot off into her room before I could answer.

"What do you think it is?" Junpei asked.

"Hell if I know."

She ran back out and pushed a couple of folders and a stack of papers into my hands. "These are for you." Huh?" "Toriumi-sensei said she made you some makeup homework."

…

…

…

No. NO! Nononononononononononono!

"Ugh… pulled right back out into the cold, harsh reality…" Thanks for the 'comfort' Junpei…

"She asked me to make absolutely sure you got this. She said it's very blah because blah just blahed, and blah's concerned about your blah. And, blah… I blah some blah in you blah, so… Blah feel blah for blah this too and… Anyway, here it is." Once she'd finished her rant about… something, she backed away like I had the plague or something. "Good luck."

"…thanks?"

Once she was at her door, she looked back at us. "Oh, and Junpei?" she asked to be sure she had his attention. "She also said you should take your studies more seriously." If it weren't for the weight in my arms, I'd be mocking him right now.

You really hate us, don't you Yukari?

* * *

Once I'd made what I'd like to consider a reasonable dent in the stack of papers, I was too tired to bother lifting the blankets to crawl under them. Instead I just laid down on them, grabbed the pillow, and started wrapping myself in a little cocoon of sheets. Once I was curled up into a nice, warm little ball, I felt someone sit on the side of my bed. My head poked out through a crack in the shell I made. Oh look, it's the prepubescent prisoner. XIII.

"Hi, how are you?" I blinked. Nope, still there. Damn…

"How'd you get in here?"

He chuckled. "I'm always with you." Be creepier. Damnit, I didn't mean for you to actually use the creepy chuckle. "Soon, the End will come. I remembered, so I thought I should tell you."

"The… End?" Capital?

"The End… of everything. But to be honest, I don't really know what it is." Then why are you here telling me about it? So I know just enough to feel guilty when it happens but not enough to actually stop it? "Oh, it looks like you've awakened to your power. And an unusual power it is." Really? Because I thought it was pretty ordinary. "A power that takes many forms, but is bound by none. It may prove to be your salvation, depending on where you end up."

I blinked and he was standing in front of the door. "Do you remember when we first met?" You mean when you made me sign a contract in what may or may not have been a pen that used my own blood for ink to blindly accept whatever fate I end up with? No, I'd forgotten all about that. "I'll expect you to honor your commitment. I'll be watching you, even if you forget about me." Stalker. "See you later."

He disappeared…

What the _Hell_?

* * *

Minato always has to put up with hallucinations and guilt trips from his Personae. Be honest, do you want to see more of the crap he forces himself to ignore? Or should I leave most of it until the Bad Shit starts happening to him?

Deep Space Cowgirl: Minato's more likely to be the one doing the chewing out against the older S.E.E.S. members, as seen with Akihiko. And of course she'd get her own initial Persona.


	6. Chapter 6

Yukari caught me on my way into the school the next day. "Hey, Minato-kun!"

I paused by the gate. "What's up?"

"I wanted to thank you… for last night." You have a gift, young woman. "It's not that I don't trust Marina or Junpei, but they're even newer to this than I am, you know?" I've seen you freeze up once, but even I paused for a moment at the sight of that thing, and I was sure I'd finally gotten Phobos locked up in a nice little box. "But you, you've been doing this for a while, right?" I nodded. "With Akihiko-senpai injured, I was kind of worried." Oops. Wait, she probably meant his ribs, not his face. "I… don't think I would have been very confident working alone with Mitsuru-senpai."

I wouldn't find a Kirijo's presence very soothing either. I gave the cocky smile that I'd been sure to master before any other expression. "There's a problem, just leave it to me."

She smiled back at me. "Alright. I'll be counting on you then."

Phase One, complete.

Asshole.

* * *

Once class ended, Yukari stood up with a yawn before facing me. "I thought I was gonna fall asleep in there."

It was pretty boring, but I didn't have time to answer before Mitsuru came in through the door. "Can I have a minute?" She continued before any of us would have time to get away. "Come to the lounge after school. I have something to tell everyone."

Junpei asked, "Are we having that talk?" Yes Junpei, Mitsuru is finally going to explain the birds and the bees to you.

"I'll save the details for later," she replied. "I'll see you there." She left quick…

I voiced my opinion. "She certainly didn't stick around long."

That's not a nice look Yukari. "She's probably busy with things like Student Council, unlike us."

"Whoa, Yuka-tan, do I sense some hostility?" If not, then you're dumber than I thought you were when we met Junpei.

She sighed. "Well, it's not that I don't like her… She's just…" Just what? A manipulative bitch? A mafia heiress that would sell us out in a heartbeat if it had a slim chance of ending the Dark Hour? The puppet master controlling every conflict in the Middle East? "N-never mind. Let's get going." Aww, I wanted to hear the end of that thought…

* * *

Sanada caught me at my shoe locker. "Hey, Arisato."

I looked at him with one eye. It was a very boring looking eye. "What do you want Sanada?" You aren't exactly in my good books.

He looked kind of sheepish. He also looked amusing with his black eye. "I… wanted to apologize about my behavior last night. It was wrong of me to treat the Shadows like something we can hunt for fun." His eyes keep darting to the left.

"Spare me the false apologies Sanada. Don't bother apologizing to me unless you actually realize that you were in the wrong." His empty hand is clenched into a fist. "Now, is there any actual reason you came over here? Or are you just here to make nice like you were told?"

He _does_ realize that he can't beat me in a fight, doesn't he? Through his clenched jaw, he forced out, "Mitsuru wanted all of us to meet on the fourth floor of the dorm after school."

I gave a sound that could have been interpreted as a grunt or a sigh. "I got it." I fully understand that Mitsuru _wants_ us all in that room as soon as possible.

I think I'll see a movie.

* * *

Ikutsuki, Mitsuru, and Akihiko were already back when the three of us reached the fourth floor. "Well, that's five of us. Where's Arisato-kun?"

He was looking at Akihiko. "I told him we were meeting after class." He shrugged. "I thought he got held up and was gonna catch the same train they took." He waved his good arm in our general direction.

"Well, he can catch up later." If I didn't know better, I'd say he doesn't like Minato very much. Ikutsuki returned his attention to the three of us. "I'd like your undivided attention." There isn't really much else in here to focus on. Well, I suppose I could just sit here and stare at "-were the only Persona Users we had." Damn you Akihiko! You distracted me! "However, that number recently jumped to six." Even if only five of them are here right now. "Therefore… starting tonight at twelve AM, I'd like to commence the exploration of Tartarus."

"Tartarus?" I asked. "What's that?"

"… sounds like toothpaste." Thank you for that _wonderful_ contribution Junpei.

Yukari looked at him. "You haven't seen it, Junpei?"

Seen what?

"It's no surprise…" Ikutsuki started. "Since it only appears during the Dark Hour." Oh, joy.

Akihiko was smiling, despite his eye. "Just like the Shadows… Interesting, huh?" I think he wants Minato to make his eyes match. "And it's the perfect place for us to train. You can think of it as a Shadow nest."

That was when Minato's lazy ass showed up.

* * *

"Where've you been?" I don't see how that's any of your business, Sanada.

Focus on what's important.

You're right. He said they found a Shadow nest. "If you know where those things are congregating, why is the damn place still standing?" Where is it? I'll tear the damn place down myself. Just because you're all too afraid to use high grade explosives…

High grade explosives, raining fire, freezing it over and shattering it with hurricane force winds…

"We believe we can find the reason for the Dark Hour there." Giving a reasonable answer that, despite my seeing the logic in, I don't support. It's not that I _like_ the Dark Hour, but trying to fight against the phenomena itself would make about as much sense as someone swearing revenge on gravity after a loved one died in a plane crash.

"Where is the damn place?" I asked.

"As I was saying," Ikutsuki started, "it only appears during the Dark Hour. You'll see it tonight when the others go."

The others? "I hope you don't mean him," I said while pointing at Sanada. Hey, the guy can barely take a punch and has broken ribs.

Mitsuru answered before he could protest my statement. "Since Akihiko hasn't fully recovered yet, he'll only come as far as the entrance."

"… I know." Now the albino's all depressed.

"Well, I'm sure he won't mind as long as you don't go too far in. Since we're dealing with Shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid."

What.

I beg your pardon?

Come again?

I'm sorry?

Even that bastard seems surprised. Well, it didn't end well for you the last time you were down there, did it?

For those of you who are unaware, Tartarus is an ancient entity older than the Greek Titans. It's also the place the Titans were imprisoned by the Olympians. We don't get it either. Further down than the land of the dead ruled by Hades, as far beneath his kingdom as heaven is above the earth according to Zeus. Damnit, being disinherited means that I'm not supposed to have to deal with any shit like this!

Then tell them to call Johei Shirogane.

…

…

…

**Don't ever mention that bastards name again.**

"Relax, I got your backs!" Trying to impress someone Iori?

Why shouldn't he?

"I don't know about this…" Yay, Yukari has some common sense!

I'm sure it won't be there for long.

I sighed. "And what are you going to be doing?" I asked Ikutsuki.

"I'll stay here. After all, I can't summon a Persona."

Then why did it react the way it did?

* * *

I wasn't really concerned with the fact that a bunch of teenagers were walking around late at night with lethal weapons and guns that weren't real guns.

Even if Minato looks kind of like a thug with that green coat he ditched his uniform jacket for.

I was more concerned that we were back at the school.

"This is it?" I'm not the only one. "THIS is the place? Why HERE?" Looking around, it seemed like Junpei and I were the only ones having any problems with this.

"Just hang on a sec. It's almost midnight." I checked the time on my phone. Five minutes to wait. Damn, they aren't going to answer any questions until then, are they?

I saw Minato pull out his phone and dial a number. "Hey Liz. Pinocchio giving you any trouble?"

… Pinocchio?

Midnight arrived a moment before the school started rising. Well, not like it's flying up, there's just a lot more building coming up from below it. Then they started twisting, forming complex structures that looked like they shouldn't be able to stay up.

Is that a bowling ball?

* * *

I must find the psycho that designed this place and hire him to build me a palace.

"This," Kirijo began, "is Tartarus, the labyrinth that appears during the Dark Hour."

I sighed, possibly with relief, upon hearing her refer to the tower as a Labyrinth. Maybe I won't lose whatever I'm going in there to find just as I'm about to leave.

"_This_ is the Labyrinth you were talking about?" That's what you're concerned about? The people who came up with the names for this obviously don't know shit about any mythology. "What are you talking about? What happened to our school?" I already explained what the actual Tartarus is, and the Labyrinth is supposed to be spread out _beneath Europe_.

You sure it's still there?

…fuck.

"Once the Dark Hour passes, everything returns to normal." Babel would have been a far better name to give this tower, especially given that I can't really tell where the top of it is.

Iori turned to Sanada. "This is the 'nest' you were talking about? But why! Why'd our school turn into a Giant Tower!" Neither of the seniors answered him. "You don't know either?"

"…No."

Bullshit.

"I'm sure it's complicated." Probably involves a lot of application of psychokinetic theory that PHILEMON barely understands. Easier to just say a butterfly did it. Like why airplanes don't fall out of the sky every night, or how cars stop moving for an hour without losing momentum or burning fuel. Unless I happen to be within a few feet of it…

Best not to dwell on that.

"Who cares anyway? It's not like it would change our minds about fighting." Not unless this tower is somehow critical to the stability of the universe.

"Who knows?" That seems like it should have been Iori's line, Sanada. "Maybe now we'll find out. Mitsuru and I have only gone in to take a peek, so this will be our first time exploring it. Exciting, isn't it?" He really wants a beating, but I'm not going to give him one until he's healed. I don't want people saying I can only beat the hell out of him because he's injured.

"Akihiko." Kirijo scolded. "I respect your enthusiasm, but you won't be accompanying us today."

"I know… You don't have to remind me." Must suck having to heal so slowly.

The others started to go in. "I'll talk to you later Elizabeth." I ended the call with an audible beep. Loud enough that it drew their attention away from the ominous tower of DOOM.

Yukari said what was on all their minds. "Your phone still works."

"…Yeah?"

Marina blinked before asking "How can your phone work?" I could try to make up some kind of believable lie, or…

"A butterfly's old bitch's hot white-haired secretary with golden eyes did it." That's kind of close to what people who knew even more than I did might consider a possibility, right?

Nope.

"If you are unwilling to tell us how you were able to do this, you don't have to." Because someone working for Kirijo already figured it out, if the lights at the dorm are any indication. "But, in the future, do not make up such ridiculous stories." But… that really is what happened.

There there… let it all out.

Why are you being nice?

… I want to come out and play?

No. I am not going along with any more of your stupid ass ideas.

With a dejected sigh, I followed the others into Babel-I mean Tartarus.

* * *

"It's just as cool on the inside."

"But it sure is creepy."

"Kirijo-san; could you please inform your father that I would like to purchase this property?" That's the first time I've ever heard him use an honorific in reference to her.

"… It's not for sale."

There isn't anything to keep this platform from falling through the endless abyss that I can see due to this room's _complete lack of walls despite the ceiling!_

I looked around in disbelief at the other people in the room. Yukari seemed slightly anxious, Junpei and Akihiko are admiring the 'architecture', and Minato's… trying to convince… Mitsuru to… sell him the school?

"First, we'll have you get a feel for this place." Does Akihiko have the authority to decide that? "Why don't you all go look around?"

"What!"

"By ourselves?" Hey, Yukari and I are on the same page.

"We're not asking you to go very far," Mitsuru justified… poorly. "And I'll be feeding you information from here." So you'll be here, and Akihiko will be here, and two people that have never fought Shadows, one person who got stabbed by one, and one with barely any experience fighting them will be doing the fighting. Great. They never had any intention of coming in.

"We're also going to appoint a leader, to make any necessary decisions."

"For real? One of us?" Junpei got an excited look on his face. "Ooh ooh! Me meme me Pick Me!" Oh sweet Lord he's jumping up with a hand in the air.

Akihiko looked with a grimace at Junpei's antics, Yukari's apparent disgust at those antics, and the way Minato seemed to be shrinking in on himself. "You're in charge."

"W-wait a minute, why him? He doesn't look like a leader!" True. Even if he does have blue hair, Junpei's taller and Akihiko also has strange hair. But if it's only temporary, it should be okay.

"But he _has_ fought them before." Also true.

Minato clapped his hands together. "Alright then!" he cheerfully announced as he walked towards me. I felt him slap a hand on my shoulder. "As my first act as leader, I'm putting her in charge!" What.

"W-wha? But she's a girl!" And you're a dumbass.

"Yes she is, very observant of you Iori. She's also fought them without having a sword run through her back." Also true, but I would have died if a little boy hadn't told me to shoot myself in the head.

…There are so many things wrong with that.

"… sword?"

Akihiko sighed. "It is true that they've fought them before, but there's another reason I'd prefer one of them. You two," he directed at Yukari and Junpei as he readied his Evoker, "can you put the gun to your heads and pull the trigger without any hesitation, like she can?" So I should lead because I have a death wish?

"Y-yeah, of course I can!"

"I think so."

"I know I can't." What.

Well actually, he doesn't have his Evoker ready to use like the rest of us do. It's… probably in his pocket or something… right?

Akihiko doesn't seem amused by that. "These are Shadows we're talking about. Without your Persona, you're screwed." The thing is, I don't think he was joking.

"Well yeah, otherwise, you'll get caught when you run, overpowered when you fight, and collapse after every strike." That what happened to you?

I took a step forward before I saw something start glowing. The Velvet Key feels warm in my breast pocket.

…I didn't put that in there today.

* * *

I walked through the elevator and took my uncomfortable seat across the table from Igor.

"I've been waiting for you." That still creeps me out. "The time has come to wield your power. The tower that you are about to venture into… How did it come to be? For what purpose does it exist? Regrettably, you are not yet capable of answering these questions." Yeah, but you could probably save me a lot of trouble if you'd just tell me what you know. Hell, just tell me who else knows and I'll go bug them instead. "That is why you must be made aware of the nature of your power."

"Um, the last time I sat here and listened to you, I spent a week in a hospital bed."

"There's no need for you to worry. Whenever you come here of your own will, time will not pass in the outside world." Great!

"So, what do you mean by 'the nature of my power'?"

"Your power is unique. It is like the number zero… It's empty, but at the same time holds endless possibilities. You, young lady, are able possess multiple Personae, and summon them as needed."

Did he just cheerfully tell me I had multiple personalities?

"And when you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you. There may be times when they are difficult to grasp… but, do not fear. Seize what you have earned. Your power will grow accordingly… Be sure to keep that in mind. My spare time will soon become scarce. But, please come again of your own accord. I'll tell you then about my true role… and the manner in which I can best assist you." The balding old man with a giant nose is going to help me?

I nodded and stood.

"Ah, before I forget… Do you recall when I mentioned another resident of this room?" Vaguely. "Tell me… When you think of this person, what do you see?"

Okay, if I'm gonna get this right, I need to be as vague in the description as possible. "Is it a guy?" About a 50/50 shot there.

"I see…Then let's bring him out for a proper introduction." Called it. _Damn_ I'm good!

…

Okay, did not expect one of the blue curtains just hanging off of thin air to open and reveal a door. Although that's nothing considering that a white-haired elevator attendant dressed in blue came through it. He's cute. Wait…

White hair. Golden eyes. Attractive.

Is this guy the one that screwed around with Minato's phone?

"My name is Theodore, but please, feel free to call me Theo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"My assistant will aid you as well. Until then, farewell."

* * *

Inoue seemed to blank out for a sec-oh, Velvet Room. Must be having a little chat with Pinocchio. Iori went over to check on her. "Hey, you alright? You look like a zombie." Not quite the best description, Iori; but acceptable.

"A zombie? Really?"

"_That's_ what you pick to dwell on?" You're the one that brought it up. "Oh, I get it. You're trying to yank my chain here." Or she's still a little disoriented from seeing the old man's nose. "Don't worry though, I got your back." I wonder what he pissed off badly enough to make him look like that.

While they were bickering, Yukari came over to me. "Didn't you say _you_ would take care of any problems?" Crap.

"Yes I did, and I fully intend to. I just feel that someone a little closer to your level should be making the decisions about what to do." And, given what happened to the last person who led a group of Persona Users, I sure as hell don't want what this appears to be a gateway job into. "If anything comes up that you three can't handle, I'll kill it for you."

She seemed a little reassured by that. "Alright then." Certainly not completely.

I started up the stairs leading through the giant clock. "If you two're done screwing around, maybe we can get some work done?"

Didn't you say _she_ was in charge?

Didn't I tell you all to shut up?

* * *

Deep Space Cowgirl: They might team up, but it'll be a _long _time from now. And, as much fun as taking Ikutuski down now sounds, I need him for other things.

neko-neko-aishizu: Aigis will be... fun, even if she doesn't arrive at a fun time.

... What are you still doing here? Leave a review or go watch the new Highschool of the Dead.


	7. Chapter 7

As Yukari followed me up the stairs, I heard an annoying little chant in my head.

Babel Tower's burning down, burning down, burning down. Babel Tower's burning down, and it's all your fault.

Damn Celtics.

* * *

Tartarus is on fire, and it's all Minato's fault.

Let me explain.

_Fifteen minutes ago…_

I walked with Junpei and Yukari at either side, with Minato following us up the staircase. Mitsuru was explaining elemental things about Personas and Shadows, weaknesses and resistances and crap. I'm pretty sure Minato had already found this out on his own, and Junpei and I understood it pretty well. And Tanigawa-san said there was no way staying up past curfew playing Pokémon could ever be productive. Take _that_ you old hag!

Don't look at me like that. If you say you never played Pokémon, then you're a lying liar who lies.

Junpei lifted his sword as we came into a green-walled hallway with black and white (well, green with the tint) tile floors. As he muttered something about 'inside', a thought occurred to me. "Senpai, none of us have any mics. How can you hear what we're saying?"

"_It's my Persona's ability. I can receive and relay information from here, and relay it to you through the earpieces."_

"Nice trick, but wouldn't it be easier if you were here with us?"

"_I'd like to join you, but the structure of Tartarus changes from day to day. That makes outside support imperitive."_

"Well _that_ makes me feel a whole lot better." I agree with you Yukari, exactly _when_ does this change happen?

"_Now, judging by your current location, you should begin to encounter Shadows any minute. They shouldn't be very powerful, but be careful. Practice makes perfect."_

"Right!" Junpei nearly cheered. I nodded in agreement. Minato gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Got it." Yukari stated. "Why is she always like that?"

The others either didn't hear or didn't care.

"Alright then." Minato clapped his hands together. "I think you three should start by clearing out the Shadows on this floor. Unless you have an objection?" he asked Mitsuru.

"_No. Just remember that these are real battles you will be engaging in."_

I led the others through the poorly lit halls, stopping them when I saw two glowing red eyes in liquid darkness.

"_Watch out! There's a Shadow in front of you!"_

Thank you for that _highly_ important bit of information Mitsuru. Gods forbid any of us manage to figure out that the moving bit of darkness with evil eyes (wait a sec, scratch that. I have red eyes) might be one of the nightmarish monsters that live in this tower. I tried to cut the thing open with the naginata I'd been given.

'Tried' being the operative word. On impact, the blackness rose into a more solid seeming mass and sprouted a blue mask, accompanied by a soft glow for a moment.

There should have been a brighter reflection from that on the 'blade'.

Unless the weapons Junpei and I had been given were plastic replicas not meant for actual use.

Lovely.

I dropped the toy, put the barrel of a gun to my right temple, and shot myself in the head for the second time in my life.

Yes, I know, not a real gun. But still, you try pointing a…

On second thought, don't. Ever.

Eurydice appeared between me and the Shadow, raised her arms, and a dozen white glowing tags attached themselves to the gelatinous body. The light intensified for a moment and the Shadow was just… gone. I felt warm as Eurydice faded.

And then I jumped a little as a hand came down on my shoulder. Minato stabbed his sword into the floor and scratched his chin. "Nice work with the Hama. Just don't get too dependent on them; I've seen Shadows that could make you waste so much energy trying to get one to land it would've been easier to beat the thing to death with your bare hands. If you have the option, you should try using something with a better chance of working."

I very calmly removed his hand, and asked, "And what would you suggest?" as I twisted his wrist.

Even though I had as tight a grip as I could get, he freed his right arm with a single motion. Guess that arm gets a lot of exercise. "Well, you might try that fire spell Eurydice just picked up."

Fire?

I'm not really sure how to describe it beyond that Eurydice felt warm. Minato seemed amused by the description. "Things are gonna get complicated for you if you don't keep a method of organizing your Personae's abilities in your head. Kirijou told you about the standard elements for the attacks, right?" I nodded. "The light attack you used is referred to as Hama. Darkness is Mudo, ice is Bufu, electricity is Zio, healing is Dia, and fire is Agi." As he said the last term, the warm feeling subsided and I could just feel the 'Agi' ready through Eurydice. "Or that's the base standard anyway, but there are a few that use different terms for some reason. Most people I know use Garu for wind, but I've heard it called Zan. There's a few others, but right now you three should kill the shadow just around that corner." He pointed to the end of the hall where a single red eye was peering out from around a corner.

Lovely.

I grinned as I shot myself in the head again, this time sending a ball of fire hurdling towards the Shadow.

Aww, it missed.

"Damnit, it's getting away!" Junpei shouted.

Blue-haired bastard's just standing there with one hand in his pocket, looking smug. "What now, leader?" he asked.

I ignored him as Junpei and I ran after it. After a couple of turns and seeing what might have been stairs down a side path, we caught up to the Shadow.

And about a dozen others. Crap.

Okay, important information if we survive this: Shadows are smart enough to set up ambushes.

Or we're just that stupid and unlucky. I'd really prefer to think that the enemy is smart, given the alternative, and I am clearly starting to go into denial about the fact that there is a floating tiara with eyes and tentacles flying towards my head.

"Homerun!" Was flying towards my head. Junpei's toy sword is broke now, but that was still a hell of a hit. I returned the favor by frying the Maya about to take a swipe at his leg.

Okay, fire works _really _well on those things. I think we should be able to last until- Gah!

I clubbed the red mask of the shadow that just tore into my leg with my Evoker hard enough to crack its mask and force it to back away. Junpei beat me to the kill though. "Hermes!"

His Persona flew forward, crushing the Shadow into a black smear on the wall as he helped me up.

"You okay?" he asked as he eyed the remaining nine Shadows.

I winced as I tried to put a little pressure on my left leg. "As long as I don't have to go anywhere fast." I saw a mix of fear and concern before he tried to push it behind a brave mask. He didn't do a very good job of it.

Damnit, you're in charge here, THINK! There's too many to fight head on, and I can't exactly run away. Should we try and hang on until Minato and Yukari catch up? Or would I just be dragging Junpei down with me. "We can't win like this. Get out of here," I told him. "I'll buy you enough time to get back to the others."

He didn't try to hide the shock. "What!" he shouted at me.

"GET CLEAR!" Minato roared. Junpei grabbed me and pulled me onto the floor of a side hallway, leaving a clear path between the Shadows and where we came from. "PANDORA!"

Fire and ice and darkness tore into the hall until colliding with the mass of shadows. The two or three that weren't outright destroyed by the blast screamed in pain. I wormed my head out from under Junpei's shoulder and saw flames crackling through a few gaps in the wall of ice blocking us from going back into the main hall.

"You okay in there?" Minato shouted through the flames.

Before I could answer that I was fine, Junpei shouted out, "I'm okay, but one of those things got a hit on her leg!"

There was a pause that I assume was Minato asking Mitsuru something. _"There's an access point just down the hall, it should bring them back here."_

"There shouldn't be any Shadows on the way, so just head down that hall like Kirijo tells you to. We'll try and find another one on the next floor."

Junpei crouched down so I could get my arm over his shoulders and helped me limp down the hall.

Damnit.

* * *

I sent a Maha Aques down the stairs just before we came out into the third floor to handle the fire. There, you all happy now?

I wanted more fire…

Too bad.

Just as before, the stairs disappeared as we entered the third floor. We proceeded on without comment. Much more distressing was the utter lack of Shadows on this floor. This place is supposed to be some kind of nest, isn't it?

"Yeah, that's right," Yukari said.

Damnit, I'm thinking aloud again. That never ends well.

"_I sense Death!"_

Shinigami? Thanatos? Grim Reaper? Fourth Horseman?

I'm right here.

Oh, sorry.

I saw Yukari freeze out of the corner of my eye as rattling chains echoed through the hall. I forced down a desire to run from the thing that made the very air around me seem to give off a horrendous mixture of polka music and nails on a chalk board, the taste of rotten meat fill my mouth, and the sensation of _things_ crawling just beneath my skin.

With the kind of things in the Nightmare, I've gotten used to sensations as mild as this.

Yukari clearly hadn't. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my secret weapon.

The squirt-gun filled with holy water and mercuric sulfide based paint. However, as I looked into the clear plastic and saw the thick red substance inside, I realized the error that had never before now occurred to me.

During the Dark Hour, water turns into type-O blood. So does paint.

The thing that should be able to turn gods into a puddle is completely useless.

As the monstrosity grew closer, I tossed the useless squirt gun aside and glanced at Yukari. Her bow trembled in her left hand, and her right was frozen over her Evoker.

If I threw everything I had at this thing, and did it smart, I might be able to make it decide killing me was too much work. But Yukari would be killed by a stray shot from one of us, so a fight isn't an option right now. Ignoring her slight grunt of protest, I lifted her over my shoulder with one arm.

Then I ran like hell.

Good thing, too, given that the moment I started moving a lump of metal the size of a basketball just barely went over my head. As I ran down the hall, I spared a glance back at the thing chasing us.

First of all, I don't care how that thing carries those, but they're too damn big to be anything other than honest-to-God cannons. An ancient-looking coat was draped over its shoulders, beneath the chains slung over each shoulder and crossing at its chest. Its entire head was covered in bandages except for one glowing yellow eye.

I turned my head away fast enough to make my hair fly out from in front of my own yellow eye, bringing back another level of perception. The hall ahead of me was just a pit for a good twenty meters that ended right in front of the glowing green circle that I assume is the access point. I couldn't make that jump without risking hurting Yukari landing or dropping her.

The stairs had been in a side-path about halfway through, so I did the next best thing.

I jumped over the pit and kicked off the opposite wall. I dropped low as soon as my feet hit the floor, gently laying Yukari on the ground as another freaking cannonball nearly hit me. I pulled a stun grenade from one pocket, pulled the pin out, and threw it back over the pit.

The actual grenade followed it.

Feeling rather rushed (and deaf), I hauled Yukari up by the wrist possibly saying but likely to anyone nearby only mouthing, "Come on, time to get up, that thing's going to be very pissed at me and anyone near me, we should be making every effort to not be here."

* * *

I cut through three Mayas in a dead sprint to keep a clear path for Yukari before I realized something.

That thing isn't following us up.

The adrenaline rush began to subside, and my thoughts were clear again.

Why isn't it following us up? Did the physical injury and sensory overload manage to incapacitate it? Is there another way up it plans to use to ambush us? Does it expect us to come back down? Is it just not capable of using stairs?

Is there another one on this floor?

Shit. I'm not in the right state of mind to consciously speculate on such little information. Need to get out of here. Now.

"Kirijo, you have an exit lined up for us yet?"

A moment later, the earpiece buzzed, _"Take your next left-"_

We did so, and I threw a very cold black rock with a snowflake emblazoned blue sheet fixed to the front at the waiting nest Shadow, pausing and gesturing for Yukari to stay back as well. The stone tore open the nest, and five red masked Mayas poured out ready to kill us both.

Yukari may have heard me muttering, "Two… One," before I began moving again. At the same time, the rock exploded in a burst of cold. The floor and walls were covered in sheets of ice, and the shadows reduced to sculptures.

"_And then your second right,"_ she finished.

I looked down the hall. "Gold square about a meter wide with a green glow in the center?"

"_That's it."_

"You heard her, Yukari. You first." As she disappeared in a burst of green light, I whispered, "And about that thing on the last floor, Kirijo: We will have **words**."

I followed Yukari onto the pad.

* * *

Minato popped out of the pad in a burst of green light. Nice job sticking the landing, it's harder than it looks. Junpei helped me stand up from my seat on the stairs as Minato stalked over to Mitsuru.

"Now, what was that thing?" I have to admit, I was expecting a lot more anger out of him, maybe some threats or swearing.

"We call it the Reaper. It's an extremely powerful-"

"And don't try some load of bullshit about it being a Shadow." Mitsuru frowned at Minato's interjection. "It didn't have a mask, not a Shadow." Mitsuru was still silent. "You don't know, do you? And it didn't occur to you to warn us?"

"We could have died, couldn't we?" I asked.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Of course you would've," Minato said. "Yukari froze, like any sensible human being would have after seeing something like that for the first time, and I doubt you or Iori would have done any better. Of course, the pair of you would've gotten yourselves killed before ever seeing that thing."

I clenched a fist reflexively, but he was probably right.

"You lot aren't ready for this kind of thing. None of you come in here without me. None of you will be coming in with me until I say you're ready. And right now, Yukari is the only one of you three that isn't stupid enough to run straight into an obvious ambush. We're done here for the night. Yukari, heal Inoue's leg so she can walk home on her own." He looked over his shoulder and locked his one blank blue eye with my gaze. "I don't think any of us are in the mood to have to help an idiot limp her way to safety."

He walked out of Tartarus.

Damn it. I don't want to admit it but… He's right. We aren't ready for this. I have to take this seriously. I have to be smart. If I screw up here, apologies won't cut it. And I won't be the only one to pay for it.

From the way Junpei's shaking and looking away, I think he agrees.

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou Shalt Have Our Blessings When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana**_

"While I can't say I would have worded it so bluntly," Mitsuru began, "I can't deny that what he says has merit. As I need to remain here, and Akihiko is still recovering, none of you are to enter Tartarus unless accompanied by both myself and Arisato-san."

* * *

Damn, it's been a while since this got updated. Well, my summer break started, so update speed should improve. And yes, I know this is short. But there hasn't really been much from the source material so I decided, Fuck It. Two Wild Cards effectively screws up canon anyway. General direction, Arcana Shadows, and certain Social Links will remain the same. Several SLs within S.E.E.S., especially Magician, Lovers, and Priestess, will go much differently as they interact with the pair of them. And Fool is so very very screwed. And to answer something that must be addressed, one of the Wild Cards won't max all their Social Links. They'll go kind of horribly, really.


	8. Chapter 8

Minato didn't come back to the dorm last night. I didn't see him at school either.

I'm actually kind of worried.

* * *

I adjusted my tie as a waitress sat my coffee down. Bangs tucked beneath a dark blue fedora, sunglasses to cover my otherwise exposed eye, standard black suit and tie with a white shirt. Slight bit of stubble pushing my apparent age up into the mid-twenties.

Still very young for someone of my position, but much more acceptable. Degrees in psychology, computer engineering, seven different ancient civilizations, head of a large and successful company, and a Persona User who never sleeps, but even a few of the people that know all of that still see me as some little brat.

Well, rarely sleeps. Chemical compounds and supernatural endurance can only carry a man so far. I took a sip of the coffee.

Rambling.

Damn it. What's taking you so long?

A pale man with gray hair and red eyes sat down across the table. A slight breeze began to shift his bangs to the side, and part of a large scar on his forehead became clear.

No doubts then. This is him.

"I believe you called yourself Naoya." I wasn't asking a question.

"One name is as good as any other, Uchida-san. Or would you prefer Satomi?"

A lesser man wouldn't have been able to resist reacting to that information. It may not have been very well protected information, but he still shouldn't have been able to get a hold of it in the past two weeks. Still, there wasn't any liability if he knew the connection between the orphan Satomi and the businessman Uchida.

"Uchida, please. The other name has something of an unfortunate personal history with me."

'Naoya' smirked. "I understand completely. Now, how could the services of a humble programmer like me aid the great Chrysalis Conglomerate?"

"I've heard from a shared acquaintance that you've been working on a program that could enhance physical capability."

His smirk grew. "I'm afraid it isn't 'that' type of performance enhancer."

My left hand slowly moved under the table. I crushed something in my hand. "I wouldn't have asked you to come all this way if I all I thought you had to offer was virtual Viagra." I gestured to the Ara Mitama beneath the next table over. "I was actually interested in that system that would allow a normal person to fight something like that."

"Ah, so you know about the Harmonizer."

"As well as the stumbling block you've come across in regards to your Summoning program. You've been having difficulties implementing that particular sound file into the base code, have you not?"

"It appears your information network is as capable as my own."

"Able to access deeply personal information on the other, but unable to detect one another's presence."

"One may begin to suspect an arrangement may have been made."

The thought had crossed my mind, but it's unlikely. After all, my information network is primarily composed of myself and a set of algorithms that, if discovered, would land me in jail without a good lawyer. "We both know such an event is highly unlikely. However, I happen to have a solution to your problem."

Still smirking, Naoya arched an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

I slightly adjusted my glasses before telling him, "Let's not keep screwing around. You have something I want. And I happen to have the terminal that was used by Tamaki Uchida."

The eyebrow retreated to its original position. That's what I thought.

"Let's talk business."

* * *

After concluding the meeting, I went through the familiar transition back into Minato Arisato, student. The hat and glasses were returned to a storage unit, as were my suit jacket and slacks. A pair of blue jeans and a long green coat replaced them, and my bangs were repositioned over my left eye. And, finally, a baseball bat. Not the best of weapons, but I couldn't exactly hide a sword under that suit.

Anyway, a three hour train ride brought me back to Iwatodai. I should get back to the dorm.

* * *

Junpei looked at me from across the table as I slumped onto the table. After a few minutes, Yukari had followed me downstairs to the second floor lounge. "What's taking him so long?" I muttered into my arm.

Muffled as my comment was, it apparently conveyed well enough for them to understand. Yukari nervously checked the clock before saying, "I hope he's okay."

"Psh," Junpei scoffed. "You saw him in action last night, he can take care of himself." A little touchy about that, aren't you?

I sighed. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of his ability as well. But still, him surviving that first night was some kind of fluke. If someone just stabbed him in the back, all the destructive power in the world wouldn't make a difference. "I'm not worried about him as much as I am us. You've got it easy Yukari, you didn't screw up in front of him. But us? He just pointed out where we screwed up and left. If he'd actually been yelling at us, it wouldn't be nearly this bad. It's like he just sees a lost cause."

"Why the hell should I care what he thinks?" Junpei shouted.

"Because he's been doing this a lot longer than we have. Because he's stronger than us. Because he's familiar enough with the enemy to honestly know that we wouldn't be able to win."

Junpei huffed. "Screw him, I'm going to bed."

As Junpei slammed his own door, the closing of another echoed up from the first floor.

Yukari looked at me. "Do you think that's him?"

"Let's see." We peeked around the corner and looked down the stairs. God, I feel like a little kid doing this.

Minato was standing in the doorway, dressed as he was last night. I caught a few words from Mitsuru, piecing together that he would be the one deciding who was able to go to Tartarus and when. He said something quietly, to which Mitsuru reacted with shock. After a moment, she regained her composure and set something about preparing. As they both started back upstairs, Yukari and I retreated to the third floor lounge.

"What do you think that was about?" Yukari asked.

I smiled. "I think we're getting a second chance."

* * *

I was right, because I'm just that good. Mitsuru came up and told us to get ready to leave and not bother with anything to hide what we carried, the Dark Hour was almost here and we should be back at the dorm before it ends.

Without even trying, my first step outside synced with the start of the Dark Hour. Junpei and Yukari followed me down the street where Mitsuru was waiting. Wait, where's Minato?

"Arisato will be meeting us en route," Mitsuru told us.

"What?" Junpei asked. "Psh, he thinks he's too good to walk with us…" I reached back and slapped him in the head. Yukari looked kind of nervous when I glanced over at her. Don't worry, I only hit Junpei because he was an idiot, you're too smart to pull the kind of crap he does.

A couple of minutes later, Minato still hadn't shown. I looked back as I commented on that and saw something very wrong. Or I didn't see, or, or whatever!

Yukari was gone.

"She must have just fallen behind or something, right?" Junpei asked.

I paused in calling her name to glare at him. We already know the shadows are smart enough to set up an ambush, do you really think they don't understand strength in numbers? That they wouldn't pick us off?" That shut him up. I turned to Mitsuru. "Can you use your Persona to find her?"

She was fiddling around with some kind of radio. "I'm trying," she said. She made a not-quite sigh in frustration. "It's no good. I just don't have the kind of power to lock onto something from so far away. We'll have to search."

"Right. We'll cover more ground if we split up. Senpai, retrace our steps. Junpei and I will check the alleys and side-roads we passed." Junpei took off right away. Mitsuru proceeded as well after a hesitant nod.

So, there I was. Alone on a street filled with puddles of blood, while monsters that wanted to eat my mind wandered the world while no one would hear me scream.

And someone kicked me in the back.

As I stumbled forward, I heard a familiar voice. "Idiots." I turned around to see Minato, hands in his jacket pockets. "Both of you. I told you you weren't ready, and you come charging out anyway. I tell you not to go in without me, and you leap at the chance to stay out of my sight for a while. You learn firsthand that the Shadows are smart, but you can't even be bothered to keep an eye on the people working with you, the people trusting you with their lives." He glared as I pulled myself up.

"This isn't the time for a lecture!" I shouted. "Yukari's gone. If you want to yell at me, fine. But wait until we know she's alright."

"Fine."

I sighed in relief. "Alright, I've got Mitsuru going back over our steps, and Junpei is checking places near the route that the Shadows might have dragged her into. So we need to-"

The blade against the side of my neck interrupted that train of thought. "Yukari is perfectly safe. I asked her to fall behind so I could assess your reaction in the event that someone _actually_ went missing. You and Iori failed. Again." I felt something warm trickle down to my shoulder as he pulled his sword back. I was still standing a minute later when he said, "We're going back to the dorm."

Damnit.

* * *

I looked at the pair of morons in front of me, sulking on the couch. "If you two think you don't need me, that you'd be fine without men, then come on. I'll give you a chance to prove it." I could practically feel Inoue and Iori trade a glance before they followed me into the basement.

Once there, I grabbed the two pieces of wood in the general shape of their chosen weapons I'd left in preparation, tossing one to each of them.

I held both hands out, palms open, and said, "I can see on your faces that you think I need to be taken down a few pegs. Here's your chance." Dumbfounded, they looked back and forth between the pieces of wood and me. "Hit me," I ordered.

Iori looked at Inoue, shrugged, and charged forward. Both hands held closely together at the end of the pole, he swung it like a baseball bat. I ducked beneath the swing, grabbed the pole in the center with one hand, and pulled him in. He kept his grip and fell forward, not releasing until I knocked the breath out of his with a palm strike to his chest.

I rotated the pole with one hand, watching as Inoue helped him up. I tossed the pole back to him as I said, "Alright, we've established that you can easily be incapacitated by one smaller, unarmed individual. Try coming at me like, oh I don't know, _a team._"

Inoue thrust forward, pulling back before I could get a grip on her weapon. Iori tried to get behind me and club the back of my head. I stepped aside as the piece of wood fell through the air, then put my foot down on it, pinning Iori's hand between it and the floor. "Sometimes the best thing you can do with your weapon is abandon it." Especially against someone who knows how to use it against you better than you know how to use it at all.

I moved as if I were going to kick him in the face before Inoue struck the back of my other knee. I stumbled, Iori got free, and I took his weapon. A kick to his stomach knocked him down, and a rap on the knuckles was enough to make Inoue drop her stick.

"If you can't even hold onto your weapon if you're hurt, what's the point in using one?" A quick sweep near the ground knocked her legs out from under her. "You two aren't even ready to train in the Dark Hour, much less fight. At seven, every night, I want both of you down here. If you're so sure that you're good enough, then I'll make you prove it."

* * *

Morning came all too soon. Not long after, Yukari began knocking on my door.

Please don't make me move…

* * *

She made me move…

"Did he really push you two that hard?" Yukari asked.

I rubbed my hand. Minato hadn't left a mark, but it still freaking _hurt._ "There's a certain mental aspect to it. If there was something that made it seem like I'd actually _been_ injured but I wasn't feeling any worse, it might not be as bad. But the given that he was able to take us both down, make us feel like crap, and avoid leaving a mark on us…" I shivered. The fact that he knows how not to leave a mark does _not_ speak well of him.

"Still, he must have his reasons, right?"

"Hah! He didn't even try and tell us what we should do. He just mocked us as he knocked us around, and then said we weren't even good enough to practice in the Dark Hour."

"You're the one that said he knew what he was doing," Yukari reminded me. "You didn't seem to have any problems with his judgment last night."

I sighed. "There's a difference between agreeing to irritate Junpei and agreeing when it makes me look as bad as him."

"That's a little hypocritical," she pointed out.

"I reserve the right as a human being to be as hypocritical as I want regarding people. And besides, you'd feel the same as me after a session with him."

Someone else please say they thought that sounded kind of dirty so I don't feel quite so filthy minded.

* * *

"Marshmallow…" I mumbled into my desk.

"What?" Junpei asked. Why the hell is he so energetic? He took a worse beating than I did last night. I opened one eye to see him shaking his head. "Come on. I know just what you need."

* * *

Apparently, I needed ramen.

"Two specials please," Junpei ordered as we took a seat.

The special?

"Everything here is delicious," Junpei claimed. "But the special…" He drifted off until the food arrived. Huh, it smells good. "C'mon, just try it."

I took a bite.

Holy crap. This… This is…

"_Delicious!"_ Apparently, that was enough to get everyone present to watch me drain my bowl. I looked around. No one in our school uniform except me and Junpei. I pointed my chopsticks at his neck. "I did not just squeal. You saw nothing."

He laughed. "Good to see you're doing better. You really got worked over last night."

I scowled. "What about you, huh?" I asked before ordering another special.

He shrugged. "Guess I can take a hit better." He started scarfing his own bowl down as my second arrived. He eats fast…

I wonder what else he does fast…

I don't think that was me.

"Hey, you doing okay?" Junpei asked.

I'm sore, I could use more sleep, but that's generally true for most of the world that isn't four years old, right? "Yeah. Why are you asking?"

"Well, I heard you were in the hospital, that was why you were gone so long, right?" I nodded. "Well, you hadn't been outta the place for long before you started takin a bunch of other pretty hard hits. You seemed kinda energetic at school, but I was still kinda worried."

"Psh, I'll be fine." He looked away. "But still, thanks." He seemed embarrassed, but he laughed it off as he turned back to me.

_**Thou art I…**_

_**And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt Have our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

Magician, huh?

The world returned to normal.

"Still, guys and girls in the same dorm, huh? That can't be good." The expression on his face made it obvious he didn't mean that.

"Stop smirking like that."

"Aww… I can't help it. But don't worry, I won't drag love into my work. Then again, I can't exactly guarantee I won't fall for someone!" He started laughing. Think you're funny huh? Alright, two can play at that game.

"You were right the first time. Love has no place in what we're doing. _Lust_ on the other hand…" I got up and began to walk out as he gagged on his second bowl. Wait, second?

I looked back once I reached the door. Five bowls.

Holy crap. Did I actually just eat three specials?

I sighed as I left Junpei with the bill. After our session with Minato tonight, I'd either have worked off every last calorie from that meal or be puking it out. Three options and they all suck: Get fat from eating all of that, get sick, painful exercise for hours. Somehow I'm sure that I'll get yelled at when (not if, when) Minato pushes me past my threshold.

* * *

Minato is dead serious about not letting Marina and Junpei come to Tartarus until he thinks they have their act together. And while Marina is willing to see reason for the moment and Junpei will go along with it, they will end up getting… impatient. Now, does anyone remember early in game where the FeMC can have a conversation with Junpei and suggest going to Tartarus without Mitsuru and Yukari?


	9. Chapter 9

Get this.

After Junpei caught up with me at the dorm and started shouting about leaving him with the bill, I managed to get him to pay for it because he was being a pervert. Anyway, Minato heard us shouting and came over. He asked how much the final price was (11400, plus tip) and then slapped our heads together.

For _under_ eating.

Apparently, throwing out pieces of our soul and performing superhuman feats takes a lot of energy, and just having a body _able_ to do something like that on a whim meant we needed to eat a lot more. I guess that explains not realizing that I'd eaten _three_ extra-large specials, but still. _Damn_.

I fell into an armchair. "I'm going to be _soooooo_ broke." I could hear similar complaints from Junpei.

"Iori, quiet. Your metabolism will start to taper off in a few weeks. You'll still eat a lot more than average, but you'll be a lot thinner than someone who eats that much has any right to be."

I sighed in relief.

"Inoue, you probably won't be so lucky."

What?

"You have the potential to reach the same level of power as me. And because you'll keep getting stronger, your body will never establish any kind of baseline for what it needs. You'll probably be spending a couple hundred thousand a week on food."

_What?_

"Of course, that's an optimistic goal, albeit one that expects you to eat out for nearly every meal. If you're a good cook and make most of your meals, it'd probably only be just a bit more than the stipend you've been receiving that's paid for your lodging and tuition at private schools has left for spending money."

_WHAT? _

"Unfortunately, that still means you will be requiring some kind of kind of supplementary income. I doubt Kirijo would just give you money, and she's the only one here with that kind of means available. Now, since you will be needing money, I've taken the liberty of arranging an interview for you at Chagall Café, the new café at Paulownia Mall. You should have just enough time to get changed into something more suitable than a school uniform."

What.

* * *

"So, what can you tell me about this place? I've never been there," I said as we walked out of the station.

Junpei had decided to come with us, claiming he would kill some time at the arcade. "You wanna tell her, or should I?"

"Now now, Iori," Minato said soothingly. "Let's not spoil it."

"Spoil what?" I grumbled.

It became clear what they didn't want spoiled when we entered.

"… This is a _Maid Café?"_

"Yep," Minato said. I could hear Junpei laughing.

"Surely there's another way."

"Not one that's willing to let you work for more than two days a week, which would be a lot less money than you'll need. Just ask for Mayumi and say you're the girl Arisato mentioned the other night. You have a recommendation for an establishment that's understaffed, so you'll have to work _really_ hard to fuck this up. See you at the dorm for training."

* * *

Gah, nothing in this place but Kirijo's crap! After kindly explaining that no, I didn't care that this was the latest model and asking for a unit made by the Correct company, she directed me to a small corner containing several pieces of cheap, outdated tech.

Honestly, some of these things are over a decade old and made by Kirijo's competitors. But there was one, just one, which cost far more than any of the newer Kirijo models even though it was three years old.

I smiled. It was more expensive because it was _better_. I should know, I helped put the damn thing together. Yes, it would do nicely.

I paid with a credit card, assured them that yes, I did want to buy the 'ridiculously overpriced piece of Chrysalis-made junk,' and signed a name that wasn't mine.

I don't trust Kirijo's models, or even my own after leaving unattended at the dorm. Oh, I doubt they actually planted any surveillance devices or programs in the terminal itself, but I'm paranoid that way. Besides, I probably missed a camera or two, and they could be as much of a problem if they could see my screen.

Which is why instead of using my own computer in my room, I'm using a fresh from the box unit that will then be disposed of within an hour to attend a meeting in Tokyo. 'Naoya' will need anything that can be made available, and I won't be there personally to get the data on the Harmonizer. I'm going to need to know how it works, and figure out how to implement it into some kind of headgear or uniform. After all, it would look rather silly for someone to have to use an app on their phone in order to fight, wouldn't it?

No, this is has to be something that the user won't have to think about. As important as this software will be, as durable as this could make a man, he'll still burn just as hot in a fire, freeze just as hard in the cold, and die if his heart is ripped from his chest. The innovativeness of the software doesn't mean shit if the hardware can't support it. Being able to see and injure a demon is well and good, but without the ability to take a hit in return…

A small water spell and a small ice spell later, and a completely ruined chunk of frozen plastic shattered on the pavement below. A pity really, I was rather fond of that model.

As I returned to the innards of the mall, I fumbled around my pocket and removed a disappointingly empty bottle. Dammit. Gonna have to get some coffee to hold me over until I can get to the caffeine tablets back at the dorm.

As I took a seat in the café, it occurred to me that I probably could have gotten another bottle from the pharmacy quite easily, and would have had to eventually. But still, as a waitress approached, I reminded myself of the benefits for using coffee instead of pills. Like the cute waitress.

"Hi!" she chirped. "I'm Emi. Would you like to try a cup of our Pheromone Coffee? Its charming flavor is guaranteed to turn on your charm."

"Enough to get your number?" She blushed politely as I followed up by ordering one in the largest serving they carried. "I'm planning on being up late tonight."

"Well, you're certainly sure of yourself," she noted.

"I've long believed that fortune favors the bold." I smiled. "So, when's your shift end?"

* * *

I got a text from Minato on my way back to the dorm.

'_Training cancelled tonight.'_

Huh.

* * *

"Social Links, huh?" I mused after Inoue finished her explanation. "Sounds useful, you should do those."

"What, that's all you have to say?" She shouted from where she was leaning against the school roof's railing.

"What else is there? Sounds like you're the one that needs the help, not me."

She groaned. "You're impossible! And where were you last night?"

I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket as I absentmindedly told her to ask Emi from work. As she tried to figure out how to react to that, I flipped the phone open. Yes, yes, I know, it's rude to answer the phone while talking to someone, but it's a conversation with someone that his hit one of those awkward pauses and with someone I don't particularly like on a personal level.

"Hey, what's up? … Oh really? I was just in the city the other day, I'd have stopped by to see you if I'd known you were there." I felt something move up into my throat as I asked, hoping like an idiot, "Did you guys… find anything new?" Aaaaaannnd hope dies again. "I see. Call me if something else comes up. Bye."

I returned the phone to my pocket with a sigh. It really was too much to hope for. No one's seen hide or hair of that bastard for over seven years now. I know he's still alive, but I can't get any more information than that from anything I summon. He's probably switching between aliases, moving from safe house to safe house and funding himself through demon related jobs.

Wait…

I am an _idiot_. He was willing to abide by that nonentity's final wish and keep her out of the loop. Hell, it's probably why he ditched me as soon as he could. He would be perfectly willing to train her as an ordinary detective, and she likely wouldn't see the need for the degree of anonymity he did. Assorted 'cases' would serve as an excuse to move around on short notice to out of the way locations. But because she doesn't actually know they're hiding…

Yes! I need to focus the search on Naoko, not him. I assumed that I should be searching with for the one in control, but the less privacy minded individual whom I'm sure is with him would be so much _easier_. I am a _genius_.

Of course, this train of thought was immediately ignored as a man walking down the street in front of the school managed to catch my gaze. I didn't know what seemed familiar about him. His hair was longer that anyone I knew, pulled back and reaching halfway to his waist. He was holding a cane, but didn't seem dependent on it to move.

It was the cat trailing behind him that let me figure it out. The black cat with green eyes that I saw the day I met my grandfather. Shorten the hair, darken it a few shades of grey, remove the wrinkles.

It's him.

I barely heard Inoue going on about not needing to know that as I moved closer to the railing. It was easily half a meter taller than me, but that wouldn't be a problem. Not thinking about the sheer _idiocy_ of what I was about to do, I took a few steps back so I'd have a running start.

He must have realized he'd been seen by someone who knew him for what he was, because as I jumped up and began sliding down the other side of the rails, he started to run.

"What the hell are you doing?" Inoue shouted.

I ignored her as I flung myself off the roof, keeping track in my head of where he would likely be. I rolled into the landing on the ground and ran like hell. I jumped over the fence easily and saw where Shirogane's coat trailed as he turned down an alley. I felt my legs get stronger, my body faster, as I tried to catch him. I still hadn't bothered to find any gates into the Dark Realm here, and if he managed to find and open one then I'd be in uncharted territory chasing a man who knew the area like the back of his hand.

But it would be worth it.

Restraint, deniability, uncomfortable questions, I didn't give a damn about the consequences. _HE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS!_

I felt my eyes widen as a black mist seeped out of an alley, ignored by everyone around. Damnit, this wasn't going to be pleasant. As I followed the mist to its source, I saw the narrowing slit in the world, as if the air itself had been divided to open a door. I crushed a card in my hand, not caring what was summoned so long as it could hold that rift open long enough for me to get through it. I passed a blur of blues and purples as the air grew heavy.

Soul-wrenching pain filled me, and the world grew gray and dark. I hate this place.

But it'll be worth it. _She_ is worth it.

* * *

I blinked. I pinched myself. I sighed. This was real then.

Minato actually just threw himself off the roof of a three story building while glowing blue, hit the ground running, and then jumped over a fence.

Fuck it, joining swimming has to be a better way to waste time than thinking about that.

* * *

Okay then, swimming here is boys only. Great view though…

Gah! Okay, that train of thought leads to the one Minato put me on earlier and _I don't want to be on it._ Okay, Archery is out. No offence to Yukari, but I can't see the use of a bow for fighting Shadows. Kendo was, again, all boys. Track wouldn't have done anything but make me better at running away and, _again_, boys only. I can't see myself wailing on Shadows with my bare hands, and boxing is probably boys only. Mitsuru is on the fencing team, but I can't see myself with a sword either.

I sighed again. The only two left are useless for a fight. May as well flip a coin.

Volleyball it is then.

I opened the door and realized… I made the right decision. Half the people here are just lazing around… Is that girl asleep?

A few of them bothered to turn their heads to me while the club supervisor introduced me. They seem friendly enough.

"Now, um… who was the leader for the juniors?"

I'm proud to say I resisted the urge to slap myself. She can't even be bothered to remember the students' names?

"That would be me." A girl with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail came up. She was obviously in good shape beneath the pink sweats and white t-shirt.

"Oh, good," the supervisor said. "I'll just leave it to you then, I don't really know what I'm doing anyway." Holy shit, she just giggled. You're a good two decades too old to pull that off. Hell, _I'm_ at least five years too old to expect it to work on someone that isn't attracted to women.

The juniors' leader seemed just as surprised as I was. "All right," she said. Wait…

Is she?

"I don't really know anything! Tee-hee!" someone echoed.

"Ha! That sounds just like her. She's way too old to try and act cute like that."

Okay, good. That woman's just a moron.

"C'mon, let's get back to practice!" Pinkie said. "You're Marina-san, right? I'm Rio Iwasaki. I'm in charge of the juniors in this club, so don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions." She went on to explain meeting times and such.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Come on and join in, we're concentrating on basic exercises today. Just keep up as best you can."

"Basics again?" I heard someone moan.

"I keep telling you the fundamentals are important," Rio replied. "Now, let's start with some running. Marina, stand in this line here. If you start feeling worn out, just keep focused and you'll be able to pull through."

I couldn't help but smile as I thought about the little boost Eurydice gave me. "I'll be fine."

"Good to hear!"

_**Thou art I…**_

_**And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt Have our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…**_

"Well, let's go. Front row, start us off!"

I fell into line and felt my thoughts begin to drift off during the monotony of practice.

* * *

"Hey," Yukari said as I came in. "Did you see it?"

Gah, sore legs! I fell into the chair opposite Junpei, who was eating a bowl of instant noodles. "See what?"

Junpei spoke up and failed to explain anything past the mass of noodles between his throat and lips.

"Swallow and try again."

He swallowed and said, "The crazy bastard jumped out a window and over the fence. I wouldn't be surprised if half the school knows about it by now."

Crazy bastard? "Minato?"

"Yeah," Yukari supplied. "He'd probably do good on the track team. Oh, that reminds me, have you joined any clubs yet?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool. You see-" she stopped short as the door opened. This alone probably wouldn't have been enough to stop conversation. Neither would the fact that it was Minato who walked through.

The silence likely came from the fact that his left arm was hanging limp, a section of his jacket had been burned away, he was limping on his right leg, probably because the torn left leg of his pants revealed a bloody mess.

But the most disturbing thing was the hole in his cheek that we could see teeth through.

As he dragged his mangled leg with him to the stairs, he grunted out, "Worse than it looks, just need a good night's rest. Anyone that wakes me up gets set on _fire_."

By the time any of us were moving, he'd reached the top of the stairs. Junpei and I led the charge with Yukari close behind. Mitsuru had been a little slower to get up, and Akihiko was much slower to bother moving. I don't think he likes him very much.

We saw what was left of his jacket, shirt, and undershirt on our way up, and I couldn't help noticing a couple of very bloody holes in the back. Junpei got to the door first, which I'm rather happy to say. After all, if I'd heard Minato scream and been the one to rip the door open, it would have been me instead of Junpei who got slugged across the jaw hard enough to knock him against the other wall.

God, his leg looks worse than I thought it would. He finished emptying a bottle of a clear liquid over it with his teeth gritted together. I know this rather specific detail about the inside of his mouth because _there is a fucking hole in his face!_

"Okay, nerves still work, I can work with that." He didn't bother closing the door, opting instead create a giant block of ice in his doorway.

"I think he dislocated my jaw," Junpei murmered.

Junpei was fine, and after ten minutes of not breaking the ice, we gave up on trying to do so.

* * *

Why the hell won't they go away…

_How would you react if someone limped through your front door missing half their face?_

It was a third of my face at most. Besides, the veins are all reconnected now and there's a layer of skin between my teeth and them.

_Whatever, Harvey._

The ice had melted enough that I could easily push it out. "Will you all just go to bed?" I asked politely.

Well, as politely as a man in his boxers can with too few layers of skin on his face. The oozing wounds on my chest probably didn't help either.

"Look, I'm healing fine, I'll be able to move easily by morning."

"What the hell happened?" Inoue shouted. A couple of quieter comments of a similar nature followed.

"Dislocated shoulder, factures along the left arm. Two breaks along the left leg. Three ribs cracked, two broken. Multiple lacerations over my entire body. A couple of stabbings." I shrugged with the good arm. "I've had worse. Estimated time to return to functionality, four more hours. No visible injuries will remain by school tomorrow. The bones will be fine by the end of the week."

"H… how?" I didn't really care who it was.

"Persona." I shut the door, locked it, and fell onto the bed.

Damn it...

* * *

Now, addressing reviews. First thing's first: Minato really doesn't care about getting S.E.E.S. to work through its issues, he just doesn't want them going in to Tartarus _stupid_. Second, Minato is very much _not_ an extra hero that will fix everything that's wrong. The fact that he willingly associates with ****Devil Survivor Spoilers Follow** Freaking _Cain_ **Spoilers Over**** is a rather good example of this. As to Junpei's inevitable reaction, Minato will be bearing most of the hate, though Yukari may receive some backlash. However, the only real wedge to be between Marina and Yukari will be an inability to form a Social Link. As for what Minato's after... Well, anyone with much knowledge of Persona and Devil Summoner fanon is probably guessing fairly accurately by now. Anyone else, give it another chapter or so (But really, it should be rather obvious for everything but names). And about Social Links, that would have been a major problem anyway until I came up with a solution that I really think is rather brilliant. I won't say anything more about that though. And on Yukari: Recruit? No. Make her doubt someone he doesn't particularly like and possibly hook up with a hot girl? Yes. Very much so.


	10. Chapter 10

Darkness.

Nothing but an all-consuming black fog and the echo of _his_ footsteps.

"_Gozuki! Mezuki!"_

Oh yeah, and the monsters.

Something stabbed at me from behind as I summoned Pandora. The demon burned, burned away faster than it could heal itself. The Persona cast a diarahan to handle the worst of the damage.

I got up with both lungs working fine again and summoned Ares to find and destroy the other demon while I kept moving.

I could feel myself starting to lose control, to stop caring about any fucking restraint, felt rage propel me forward as I started to gain on him. I could see his silhouette in front of me. Close enough to touch…

I grabbed the sonofabitch by his hair and forced him to the ground. He screamed as I brought my fist down and felt the crunch of his jaw beneath it. I saw him start to tear up as he looked at me with fear.

Damn it. This isn't how I pictured this going. But I couldn't stop _hitting him_. I didn't think he'd react with fear. I didn't think he'd be _so weak_ that he _fucking CRIED._

Wait, where's the cat?

It wasn't until he threw me off of him that I realized.

_It wasn't him._

I went flying. I felt two walls give way to me in quick succession.

It was clearer inside, easier to see. The fog hadn't spread in here nearly as much. I could see the figure standing in the hole _change_. It wasn't the old man with long, nearly white hair.

It was me.

I reached around and pulled a rather large chip of brick out of my back. As I struggled to my feet I heard my double, _his_ pet doppelganger, tsk. "Not quite enough," It muttered in my own disinterested tone. It rushed forward, a burning fist slamming against my cheek. The wall the blow knocked me into gave way, and the ceiling followed it down.

My leg bent in a manner it wasn't meant to as I dragged myself out of the rubble. I felt my own arm snap under the force I used to snap its head back, its neck obviously broken.

The head moved back into the proper position as it grabbed my bicep, squeezing until the bone crunched under its grip. It pulled me by the arm, and I felt my arm begin to separate from my shoulder even as it brought it's foot down on my knee.

I screamed as it held me up by the neck and-

* * *

Soaked in sweat, I snapped up from the bed. I hissed, immediately regretting the decision as my ribs groaned in protest.

A dream. Just another dream. I killed that fucking thing.

And I lost him. Lost _her_.

"Shit."

I need to do something monotonous, something I don't have to think about. As I unclenched my fist so I could open the door, it became obvious to me that I was in no condition to be around people. I need to rebuild masks.

I took a seat on the softer part of the floor, and began focusing on what I was. What I wasn't. What I could become. What I could protect. What I could destroy. How I could react.

_The willingness to do whatever I must for power and turn that power back upon its source should the cost prove too high: _**Faust.**

_The unrestricted curiosity that will damn the world beneath its sins even as it discovers its salvation:_ **Pandora.**

_The cruelty to manipulate the weak and the desperate, and the recklessness to make them into my unwilling tools with sufficient will to turn against me: _**Mephistopheles.**

_The denial to blame my failures on the world around me, and forever deny the consequences of my…_

* * *

I kicked his door. Still no answer huh?

After a few minutes, Mitsuru came down just in time to see the sweat on my palms win out and make me lose my grip on the doorknob. With nothing holding me down, the pressure I'd been applying to the wall beside the door through my legs sent me flying, and I managed smash my head into the wall opposite in _perfect_ sync with my ass crashing against the wooden floor. _Oh_ yeah, I'm awesome.

"Oooowwwwww," I moaned.

"I'm guessing that he's yet to come out?"

"_Open this door!" _Ow, shouldn't have kicked it ow, what the hell is this door made of? _"Ow!"_

"It's possible that he knows what he's doing. Certain Personas have some incredible capabilities, his may allow some kind of heightened regenerative capability. If he hasn't left by tomorrow morning, we'll break the door down and take him to a hospital."

"He wouldn't even be worth the effort if we knew how the hell it _happened_…" I muttered as I followed Mitsuru downstairs.

* * *

School happened.

* * *

Practice happened.

* * *

Sleep is God, and I am the pope.

* * *

I smell breakfast.

I pulled on my robe and followed the glorious smell of bacon down the stairs.

"What the _hell!_" I shouted.

Minato turned from the stove, taking a bite from a muffin as he did. "You okay?" He managed past the muffin.

"You… But… wha?"

He sighed. "Well, this was going to take a while anyway, might as well cook for a dozen."

I'm not sure I'm comfortable eating food prepared by someone wearing nothing but tight jeans.

"Go… _tickle your taco_ or something, get dressed. This'll take a few minutes."

"Ticker yu… What?" I asked as he did something to an egg.

He sighed. "Pay more attention in English. Then learn Spanish."

* * *

She ran off to do… something. Whatever, breakfast time.

An omelet, four scrambled eggs, two pans of bacon, and three bagels later, she came back down.

Hmmm, ham, definitely ham for the next omelet. Or maybe…

No. Pineapple peanut butter omelet didn't work. Maybe if I used a banana instead…

NO. No screwing around here now. Make what you know works from experience. Bacon and ham omelet it is.

"I'm assuming you have questions."

"Yeah," she said through the bacon. "First, what the hell? Followed closely by, _How _the _Hell_?"

I scratched my new cheek. "You mind being a little more specific?"

"What tore off part of your face?"

Oh. "That was my own damn fault. I fought stupid." I looked her in the eye. "If you fight stupid, painful things happen, usually deadly things."

"But what _did_ it?"

"Something that's dead now. My problems, not yours."

"Okay, why do you have a face now?"

"One of those things that happens to your body when you grow up shattering bones on a monthly basis is a need to heal faster. My body does. Just need a night full of nightmares of the past to get through with the worst of it." Did I say that last part out loud?

_Yes._

Well, that explains the wide-eyes.

"Why were you blue yesterday?"

"I'm… always blue. It's my natural hair color."

"Why were you _glowing_ blue yesterday?"

I blinked. "I was glowing?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know." The look on her face makes me think she thinks I'm lying. "I love not knowing things. It means there's something to learn."

_Well, you aren't happy about _everything_ you don't know._

She narrowed her eyes at me. "One more. Why does it always looking like you're forcing yourself to emote?"

"Wait, you can see that?"

"Of course I can! Are you actually saying that no one has ever called you out on it?"

And I was fucking _right!_ Suck it!

_We're you. And we would _Really_ like for you to consider the implications of ordering us to do… _That.

I'm gonna be sick.

Anyone else would have seen a genuine smile on my face right now. "Not just multiple Personae, but a genuine Wild Card."

"Wild Card?"

"Igor would say that the Wild Card just makes it easy to change between your multiple Personae, but it's more. The Wild Card is to be anything. To be everything. Everything you have ever been, everything you could ever possibly be, all floating around your head with a different manifestation. I had to put mine back together earlier, I've been up since yesterday morning."

She actually seems kind of confused about that. Understandable, I guess. "How many do you have?"

"What, Personae? Well, what you see right now is an amalgamation of about four separate Personae." After all, an actual person isn't so easily summed up by how the reacts in one single situation. "But if you really want a sense of scale…" A card appeared in my hand. "This is how I summon my Persona. This card contains one of the possible people I can force myself to be. There's a different card for every Persona." I placed the card flat against the table beside my empty plate. Then I began dragging it to the edge leaving a trail of about twenty identical cards. Then I threw it off the table.

As Inoue blinked in surprise as the room was filled with blue mist and spinning cards, I continued. "A separate identity within every one of these cards, a separate degree of every possible aspect of me. The power to be whoever we want to be, whoever we _need_ to be. That, not multiple Personae, is the true capability of the Wild Card." All of the cards and associated mist disappeared. "But to answer your question, the last time I bothered to count I had nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand, seven hundred and eighty-six separate Personae, though only two hundred and forty of them have any combat capabilities."

I reached the door before she managed to regain enough of her mental capabilities to ask, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Well, I just went through about a week's worth of food supplies in one morning and, more importantly, need a new jacket. Later."

* * *

Okay, even if it is April, it's still cold. Switch to cold resistant and… There we go, nice and comfy. Much better than going back for a shirt. Besides, it'd probably just be torn to shreds again when something inevitably decides that setting me on fire would be a better idea than telling me what I want to know.

Then I'll be genuinely irritated.

But enough unpleasant things. I'm gonna wear a happy mask until killing time!

Hm… I wonder if there's one of those polar bear club things here.

I sighed as I traced my steps back to the alley. Stupid ideas like that are why we don't let you come out.

Why are we using plural- Damnit Legion, get back down there!

Anyway, the alley. Getting in there is a much more difficult process than getting out. Leaving the Dark Realm just requires a shitload of willpower, and I can bring that out fairly easily. Getting in in the first place however is a real bitch. There are certain rituals that can be performed and I don't know. There's also the option of making a contract with a demon to open the way for you, also out.

Luckily, that bastard was kind enough to pull one of those rituals the other day. I don't need to actually know the ritual he used, I just have to find a place it was done and flood it with power.

Yeah yeah, it doesn't really make the slightest bit of sense, but it works. I don't question it. It's about as productive as questioning why gravity exists in the first place.

Maybe if we think about it _really_ hard, it'll stop. And then anyone who can't magic up a gravity field is screwed.

Another sigh. What the hell am I doing here? I just ran through a few hundred thousand separate personalities without really giving any of them the chance to settle. Should've gone straight back to sleep to sort them out.

Quiet damnit! Focus!

From the fragmented description before, this should probably be obvious, but it really does need to be said that the Dark Realm is Really _Fucking_ **Weird.** Don't get me wrong, the Dark Hour is creepy too. But… the Dark Hour at least gives the luxury of a stable world that, aside from Babel/Tartarus, remains identical in terms of navigation. And despite the physical manifestation of everything people hate about themselves, it's still possible to understand the things and predict their behavior. This place, not so much.

Take the smoking crater about a kilometer ahead of me. That's from two days ago, and yet it's still burning. Nothing on the normal side would have experienced such an effect with the amount of power put into that attack. And harps shouldn't leave smoking craters.

_Lyre, not harp._

Don't care.

"I don't care who or what you are, come out now." Nothing. "I'm sure you saw what I did to the doppelganger while injured. Now let me ask you, what do you think I'll do to you now if you piss me off while I'm unharmed?"

A solid minute passed before a voice whispered in my ear, "You're certainly confident, aren't you Summoner?"

I whipped around as Aeros emerged and created a wind that pinned the source of the voice to what was probably supposed to be a copy of a stone wall. "_Not_ a Summoner. Persona User. Wild Card. Everything I've done, everything I can do, is a result of my own power. _I am not a fucking coward that hides behind the monsters in little girls' closets!"_

Most people would hesitate before trying to crush a pixie wearing a kimono out of sheer shock at what they were seeing. I, however, hesitated because there was a slim chance it would actually tell me something important. So I held the shoe-sized fairy at what I hoped was just beyond its spitting distance and looked it in the eye.

"Now, I'm going to ask you some questions, and if you answer correctly, I'll be in such a good mood that you'll be allowed to live. What was he doing here?"

It smirked at me. "Who?"

I returned a smile of my own as I let one arm work its way up out of my hand. I grabbed that arm with my other hand and told it, "Wrong answer," before tearing it off.

Ignore the scream, ignore the self-hatred, ignore the blood running between your fingers.

"Let's try something else. Where was he going?"

"Fuck… You…" it panted.

"Hm, I've never heard of that town." A wing this time.

It seemed to go limp.

"Don't bother with the act. I've been looking for the better part of a decade, and I will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to find my sister. I know damn well that you can survive the loss of two more appendages provided you receive treatment within an hour. Things like you are durable. Now, answer my questions."

It had the nerve to scoff at me. "Look at yourself. Would you want your precious sister anywhere near a perfect copy of you as you are? Would _she_ want to be anywhere near you after what you did?"

That… that got through the mask.

* * *

"_Aniki!"_

_The gunshot rung in my ears as the bullet flew forward. No time to run, no time to hide._

_Do you know what a bullet does to a person? It isn't simple, it doesn't just separate body parts like a blade does. It rotates, it spins, it _Tore _into my flesh, leaving bloody mush where my eye had been._

_I don't want to die. Oh God, why is this happening?_

_The bullet didn't stop there, no. I felt it dig into my brain, forcing its way out the back of my skull._

_Oh god, why does this hurt so much? Why aren't I dead?_

I don't want to die!

_I screamed. I spat, I bled, I cursed his name and the names of all his ancestors. Mom… Why would you leave us to this?_

_I cried, I begged for someone, anyone, to help._

_But no, there's no one coming to help. I lifted my lyre and smashed his arm, I ran my fingers across it and burned his legs, I reached out and tore his soul, his very sense of self, from his body. It twisted, it folded in upon itself. Its skin shriveled and retreated beneath the bones. Muscles, veins, organs, and blood, so much blood…_

_No, you can't freak out about this. You can't be that guy right now. "Naoko? Are you alright?"_

_No answer. I looked around the room, finding her curled up in a ball beneath a table. _

"_You can come out now, it's alright." I reached out to touch her hand, to hold my little sister, and she slapped my hand away._

"_D-don't touch me! Just stay away!" she screamed as she moved back, running to her room and throwing anything her tiny hands could grab back at me._

_The dirty socks and occasional beer can bounced off harmlessly. But, why would she run away? I should be sad, right? Upset?_

_Why aren't I crying?_

* * *

I dropped the Pixie. I… I have to get away.

* * *

And the rest of the first time Minato fully summoned his Persona. He has a few issues as a result.

Deep Space Cowgirl: What would scare you more: Something that can beat the hell out of something indistinguishable from a god at times, or irritating the one who still came out on top? And while I'm afraid you'll have to wait until after Yakushima to see why Minato wanted the Harmonizer, I do promise that Marina will exact revenge via sandwich before Fuuka joins.


	11. Chapter 11

I stared out at the abyss.

"I'll ask again: Which one of you thought that was _funny?"_

A few amused chuckles were the more polite reactions. Cries of "Fuck you" and incoherent roars were more common.

I focused on one of the louder protestors, recognizing it as the form of Loki, and focused. "It appears that you ingrates don't understand." Chains ripped out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the Trickster and binding him in place. "You are not gods. Every one of you are a mere echo, a pale imitation, a familiar form that whatever passes for my subconscious decided to shape you in. Despite all appearances, _I_ am the closest thing to a God here, and you will comply with my will. This entire world you reside in is mine. You either willingly obey me, or I force you all to stay in line."

The assembled Personae dispersed, fading into nothing.

Behind me, I heard a slow, mocking applause. Against my own better judgment, I turned. "Huh." I was expecting to see Fucking Bastard Who Needs to Burn in a Thousand Hells for All Eternity the Younger. Instead, I get a guy in what is appeared to be the best fitting suit I've ever seen. Oh yeah, and he just had a foggy black sphere instead of a real head.

"Very impressive. Whipping them all into line like that. It's a rare man that can make so many different minds act in unison. But tell me, why so many? What is it in this world that you fear so badly as to make hundreds of thousands of disguises for yourself? Why would you possibly need so many masks?" Even though I couldn't see a face anywhere on it, I was sure it was smiling. "Which mask do you wear to look yourself in the mirror?"

It stopped being amusing and became an annoyance with that. If it didn't know, it wasn't me. And if it wasn't me, it sure as hell didn't belong here.

"Fuck off."

It just laughed as it faded away. Damnit. I don't like things that try to use me as a door.

Don't look at me like that. My brain is a freaking hole into another freaking dimension full of things that would reduce some to gibbering wrecks. Well, one that's like that all the time and anyone experiences if they go over, not like ours where it's maybe a dozen people for an hour a day. Anyway, most of the shit doesn't even get far enough for me to notice. The occasional threat or look into the mind it would need to pass through is enough to dissuade anything else.

Anyway, it's getting late, and they'll stay in fucking line for a while. Should get back to the dorm.

Well, I told myself that, but I just happened to notice this tiny little bookstore by the place with the duck. Got a book on anatomy used and damn cheap, could be useful someday. And that guy has a _huge_ shadow in gestation. It hasn't reached a state where it'll manifest yet, but they really need someone to set their heads straight.

And they said something about a tree…

Later, other things to deal with now.

Like the big box full of _things_ I'm carrying up to the dorm.

* * *

"Iori, Inoue, basement. Yukari, get your evoker and meet us there."

I looked over at Junpei. "This doesn't sound good."

"You are not learning your lessons properly," Minato said as we entered the basement. "Obviously, you need a better motivator. From this point on, if you by some miracle manage to strike me, you will get the satisfaction of making me bleed. When you fail, you will bleed. And since I doubt you have the ridiculous pain tolerance I've developed, it should serve as an effective motivator. Now get a weapon out of the box and get ready."

"Why do you have these? And how?"

"I met a blacksmith a few months ago."

This is gonna suck…

Junpei charged forward, Minato easily blocking and stepping out of the way of every swing. How the hell can he move around that easily? The guy was a freaking wreck a couple of days ago, there's no way he can be fully healed already.

The fight, if it could actually be called that, went on like that for about a minute before Minato spoke up. "What the hell do you think you're doing Inoue?"

"Junpei's already-"

"Not good enough!" he snapped. "There are fights for pride and fights for survival. _Anything_ involving Shadows is a fight for survival. If someone is able to get pissed off about you getting involved in their fight, or stealing their kill, it means they're still alive to have that disagreement. Now, do you value Iori's pride enough to let him run off alone and get himself killed?"

* * *

I looked down at Inoue, gasping and moaning in pain as she pressed her hand to her side. Junpei, being an idiot, decided that they should each take one side and ending up cutting her.

I slapped him upside the head while he tried to apologize. "Stop spoiling her. If she can't handle a little scratch like that, she's got no business fighting Shadows. I get that injury two or three times a month." Well, that's something of an exaggeration. The first month that I actually sought out and fought Shadows, I was injured in such a manner two or three times. Then I stopped summoning a Persona with a sword to attack something that was between me and where the Persona manifested.

"She's gonna be fine though, right?"

"Are you an idiot?" I hissed under my breath. "Look at the blood. It's not enough to kill her outright, but it's damn sure enough to keep someone with enough sense to stay down incapacitated." I switched from worried face with Junpei to blank face as Yukari came down. "Ah, good, you're here. Heal Inoue would you?"

"What?" She gasped as she saw the blood. "We've gotta get her to a hospital!"

"And tell them what? That while we were practicing with lethal weapons that we shouldn't have in the first place, one of us was severely injured? We don't need to bother with a hospital. All she needs," I pointed to the notagun in a holster on her leg, "is someone to heal her."

"But, the Dark Hour isn't for hours!" she protested in near perfect sync with Iori's "Bullshit!"

I turned to the capped moron. "You go on and on about how much better than us you are at anything, why the hell don't you heal her!"

"Because I learned to use healing skills on myself, over the course of seven years, on a body that I could afford to just flood power into and trust my instinct. I could mend a single vein, fix a bruise, fuse a bone, or regenerate muscle tissue. I could not fix anything that would require me to do two at once on anyone but myself, or there is a damn fine possibility that I would turn the injured area into a copy of the corresponding portion of my own body, which just might end up killing her by throwing out a vital organ or disconnecting her cardiovascular system. Yukari on the other hand has a natural disposition towards healing." I turned back to the young woman in question. "Now summon Io."

She hesitated before nervously pulling out her Evoker. "But the Dark Hour-"

"I first summoned my Persona at eight years old at ten thirty-two pm under no supernatural circumstances." I grabbed her wrist and positioned the barrel of the gun between her eyes. "The Dark Hour is not inherently tied in to the power of Persona, you will summon yours, and you will take it as a fucking Courtesy that you are allowed to use your Evoker as a crutch!"

The bang of a gunshot preceded a burst of wind that threw me across the room.

"Again!" I shouted as I hit the wall. I bounced off it again. "Her, not me!"

Inoue's groaning stopped a couple of seconds after the third gunshot.

* * *

I sat up, surprised I wasn't hissing in pain as I did so.

Right by the stairs, Yukari was shaking, her Evoker clattering to the floor. Near my feet, Junpei sighed in… Relief? Wait a sec, he stabbed me!

I just think I have to say this now. There is no justice inherent in a form of punishment that could remove the ability of a man to reproduce, even if it means removing Junpei from the gene pool. However, certain injustices require drastic measures.

As he collapsed, I saw Bastard sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.

I pushed myself up and-whoa, dizzy. Bloodloss?

"_Why?"_ Junpei groaned.

"Call it even."

Okay, Junpei's on the floor holding his junk, Yukari seems scared as hell, and Minato looks like he's _fucking smiling_. Or at least trying. His lips are kind of stretched out- _it's fucking weird._

I stumbled over and 'helped' him up. "What the hell did you do?" I hissed.

"Well I certainly didn't engineer a situation in which one of you would suffer a severe but non-life threatening injury in order to force Yukari to fully summon her Persona in a harder environment to do so than the Dark Hour, instead of the barely present entity barely able to heal a minor wound, thus ensuring that she would have no such difficulties later on."

You _what!_ "Who the hell gave you the right to do that?"

"I did. Because I can keep myself from caring about your opinions of me. Because I can be whatever I have to to keep you from killing yourselves from your own idiocy. I can give myself that right for the same reasons you can give it to yourself."

* * *

Because I am a God walking amongst mere mortals, with the power to twist their hearts and minds to match my every whim and make them abandon their dreams for my personal goals. Because I can be anyone I have to be.

"Get Yukari to bed, she'll need the rest. I'm heading out for a bit."

I may have said 'a bit', but what I meant was until dawn the next day, upon which I returned briefly with giant box of food for first giant breakfast and a shower, then another giant breakfast at the place with the duck.

Unfortunately, I ended up with wasted time for showing up early.

I _could_ pretend to sleep, but-

"Arisato, principal wants to see you. You know what it's about."

I do?

_Jumping off a roof and not showing up for school the next day?_

Oh, that.

I sighed as I rose. Damnit, just because I don't actually sleep doesn't mean I don't want to be physically dead to the world.

* * *

Toriumi showed up just before the bell, looking flushed. Must have been running late.

I really do want to think that, because I also saw a bit of moving blue hair behind her when she came in. Freaking man-whore…

No! Don't think about that! Think about the fact that Tomachika has to bake her a cake tonight! The bastard is not. Nailing. My homeroom teacher.

* * *

Track team. I'll be damned.

Apparently, it's impressive for normal people to hit the ground running after a four story drop. I could have sworn we as a species were more durable than that…

Anyway, might as well show up since I'm on the team anyway.

"This is Minato Arisato, he'll be joining the team." I did a small bow, equal parts humility and arrogance. The coach pointed out the only girl present. Huh, I think I recognize her. "This is our manager, Yuko Nishiwaki."

"Hey, nice to meet you." She squinted. "Wait, do I know you from somewhere?"

Hm, definitely athletic, hints of a nice body beneath the baggy track suit. I think I'd remember- Oh, yeah! "Junior, class 2-E, right?"

"I knew I'd seen you before! Well, since we're in the same class, you can just call me Yuko."

I flashed that amazing smile. "Alright then, Yuko. Nice to meet you." Still no real point to bothering with the niceties, unfortunately. Even if she is hot, I'd be breaking the Platinum Rule.

"Kazushi!"

"Yessir!" Black hair, a few centimeters taller than me. Not quite as thin as I'd expect a runner to be, muscle mass in upper body indicative of regular strenuous use of arms. Weightlifting? Kendo, maybe?

"This here is the future captain of the team. Great athlete, good scores in competitions. Keep an eye on the new guy, alright?"

"You got it." He turned to me. "I'm Kazushi Miyamoto. You've seen me around, right?"

When would I have-_First day, he was the guy in the tracksuit a girl, Nishiwaki, was yelling at._

"Yeah."

He smiled, obviously glad to have some minor indication of a strong reputation, even if that indication was something I probably would have said for appearances sake alone. "Well then, long story short: You're mine after school." That sounded kinda gay. Do you think that sounded kinda gay? "And don't think I'll cut you any slack just because you joined mid-season."

"Wait, you slack off when the season ends? Wimp."

"W-wimp?" he asked, obviously taken aback. "Come on guys, let's break the new guy in!" Yuko whispered something into his ear. "I don't care if it's his first day! Get this guy a pair of shorts!" Well that didn't sound gay at all.

* * *

I scraped my knee a little bit as I dropped down on it. His breath certainly more labored than mine, I could hear Miyamoto collapse just behind me. "Giving up… already?"

"Not… a chance. I could… do this… all… day."

A couple of minutes passed just like that. "I… take it… back."

"Huh?" By now, he'd worked his way up to sitting on his ass in the dirt instead of lying face down. I stood up. "Not a wimp." I offered him a hand up.

He took it, pulling himself up. "You're alright man."

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou Shalt Have Mine Blessings When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana**_

Huh, so that's what she was talking about.

But actually, thinking about it, Ares feels more… natural. It's hard to describe.

"Hit the showers, man. You reek."

"You're no rose yourself!"

"Hah! I smell like a _man_. You just smell."

"Screw you. I'll get you next time." It was slight, but he favored one side slightly on the way to the locker room.

* * *

"Double-Barreled Justice?"

"Yeah! I've been waiting for this to come out!" I swear to God, his eyes are damn near glowing.

"What kind of movie is this, anyway?"

"In a nutshell…" He paused to gather his thoughts. Or make them. "It's about fighting for what's right in a world gone mad."

"Sounds interesting."

"If I'm gonna spend my cash to see a movie, I want it to kick major ass."

Okay, long story short, a lot of things blew up. That was good. I had to spend a lot of money on snacks. That sucked. The plot was complicated, and didn't make me hate the villain properly. I'm honestly not even sure if the hero was the main character.

"Hrm…" Seems like Junpei's taking the same issue with it I am. "It was… not what I was expecting." He scratched the back of his neck. "The villain wasn't all that evil."

"Tell me about it. I don't want to know about the villain's tragic past! I want to see a guy I hate get his ass kicked!"

"Yeah, it really killed it for me when you found out about the dead girlfriend. It's not cool if you have to beat somebody who didn't want to be a bad guy."

"Yeah, the villain has to be evil to the core. It just isn't satisfying otherwise."

"What're ya gonna do?" Junpei shrugged. "C'mon, let's go grab something to eat before we head back."

* * *

I sat down with my giant burger.

"Oh crap…" I heard Junpei mutter. I know, right? There's like six… seven patties in this thing. "The guys at school might say some stuff if they see us together." If it means random students don't think I'm a lesbian, probably worth it. "There's a lot of guys interested in you." Well, yeah. I have boobs and half of them think I've been with another girl. "Plus, Yuka-tan and Mitsuru-senpai live in the same dorm, too." He sighed. "There's a lot of dudes who envy me because of that."

"Let'em be jealous."

He laughed. "Yeah. It's not like I did anything wrong."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. Is this supposed to be crunchy?

"…Actually, you don't seem all that interested in guys."

"What. Do. You. Mean?"

I'm pretty sure if he wasn't sitting in a booth, he'd have fallen back in his chair. "I mean, you're not all excited and asking me who's saying all this stuff." One raised eyebrow and… "… I mean, of course you aren't! No girl would be that desperate." He nodded in triumph, absolutely sure he'd found the solution to save his genitals. Barely. "Also, I know you've probably got your hands full with your own stuff now." Okay, even that sounded dirty to me. I need to find a guy that isn't a pedophile and doesn't go to our school. Sleeping with either of the above would be considered absolute evidence for at least half the rumors.

Damnit, think of other things! Other things!

Junpei looked serious. "I guess that goes for me, too…" Okay, it's fixed.

_**Thou art I…**_

_**And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt Have our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

* * *

Some people might consider this almost acceptable. Hell, a few more sessions like this and those two will be damn near halfway competent.

"Good. If you could do this faster and reliably, I might let you actually come to Tartarus. Get some rest. You'll be working with your Personae tomorrow."

* * *

Okay, this should have been up a lot sooner, but I got… distracted. After being given a ticket for my 'reckless driving' (being the only one of five people going the right way on a one way street that had arrows every twenty fucking feet to remind you which way you're supposed to go) I have come to the conclusion that the common sense of the 'good' people of Florida at some point entered into a suicide pact with my favorite tooth, which will have to be torn out and replaced as soon as the infection is cleared up. Fun week ahead.

And Marina will have a very stupid… for lack of a better term, let's call it an idea next chapter. After Minato tricks her into starting the Hierophant Social Link.


	12. Chapter 12

Kaz grabbed his side as he followed me across the finish line. "M-my side is killing me…"

I never got to slack off after being set on fire, you sure as hell don't just because of a little pain. "Toughen up."

He seemed taken aback for a second as he parroted, "Toughen up, eh?" He grinned. "Hmph, alright!" Huh, would've expected him to be a little more offended. "What about you?" he panted as we started a much slower cool-down jog. "You've been workin pretty hard…"

"I'm doing fine," I answered.

"You don't even look tired… Wh-what the hell kinda training have you been doing?"

Occasionally running like I wouldn't survive a fight just to make sure I can still run, jumping off roofs, a look into parkour before being discarded in favor of null gravity Personae, years of physical conditioning during a time when the body becomes far less capable of dealing with fatigue… "Special training."

"That's what I thought… Or else I… wouldn't be like this." Without actually noticing, I ended up crossing the line before him yet again as we finished and headed for the showers. "This sucks. You destroyed me… I knew the competition in the Bay Area'd be tough, but I never thought I'd run into someone like you." Just before going in, "I've made up my mind… Minato! One day, I'm gonna beat you!"

"Hah! Lookin forward to seein ya try!" Oh crap, am I starting to copy him? Or is Chariot just becoming more natural?

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou Shalt Have Mine Blessings When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana**_

* * *

Something from that bookstore crossed my mind as I walked away from the gym. That old man… He mentioned a tree, didn't he? Kinda like that one over there?

Hmm… trick her into going in under similar circumstances? Similar conversation results and…

I removed a single leaf, nodded to Toriumi as I passed, and returned to the dorm.

* * *

Rio's a freaking slave driver. I have never been so damn sore.

Well, there was that- no, still no.

Oh yeah. That bastard.

I glared from the couch as Minato came in. "Basement in one hour. Make sure Iori and Takeba bring their Evokers.

* * *

Alright, an hour to get ready. And by I get ready, I mean test something.

See, last week when I jumped off the building, Inoue said she saw something very similar to the mist that appears whenever I summon a Persona. And, even though I wasn't really paying attention to it, I was moving at Sukukaja speeds when I was chasing the bastard.

But I didn't use a Persona to do it.

Which means, I don't need to actually go through the effort of summoning a Persona to, say, set a building on fire.

Which is why my hand was burned black and unfeeling when the others arrived an hour later, the Dark Hour following right after.

"Your task tonight is quite simple: Hurt me."

"Hermes!" I lowered my head, slightly, and blocked the needle-tip legs with my chin instead of my neck. The errand boy faded as I leaned forward, pushing it back.

"Don't just leave it to him, beat the hell out of me." I calmly removed my jacket as Inoue failed to set me on fire, and raised my burned hand so they could watch it be healed as razor-sharp wind began cutting into my clothes. "It isn't ever as easy as taking turns throwing random attacks at the enemy. Improvise, exploit the laws of physics, if you can't directly affect something, then make your surroundings hit it for you." Inoue's shoe bounced off my nose. "Good effort, but not what I meant in the slightest."

After a few minutes of them struggling but not managing to do much of anything, I just walked up the stairs and left the dorm. Really about time I was able to really check out the tower.

_Yeah, that's a lie._

Shut up.

_And you aren't really having them practice summoning their Personae for their own sakes, either._ A wave of nausea surged through.

_Shut up._

_Those Evokers, their disgusting. For something like that to be the key to their power. _I fell to my knees in the street.

_**SHUT UP!**_

_Every time they summoned their Personae, smiling as they pull the trigger._ I'd been aware that it had been rising in the back of my throat since leaving the dorm. The sick stench of partially digested food and, among other contents of my stomach, my blood rose from the pavement as I pushed myself up. I spat, wiped my mouth on my sleeve, and continued with my walk. Ba-Tartarus could wait until tomorrow night. Now, I'm just going to keep quiet while I wait for people to come back to be behind the registers, and for water to be water again instead of blood.

* * *

Turn the alarm off, and roll over. Screw you, morning! It's a day off! After a couple of hours in the almost _frustratingly_ peaceful not quite asleep state, my phone started vibrating. I tried to ignore it, but it reached the point where I had to answer when it fell off my nightstand.

"_Yo, Junpei here," _his voice buzzed through a crappy speaker. _"You got some time?"_

"Sure," I mumbled.

"_You wanna go do something?"_

"Gimme a few minutes," I said as I lowered my feet off the bed- _Cold!_

"Alright! I'll be waitin' downstairs, then."

Clothes, shoes, toothbrush, lock door behind me, Mad Bull from vending machine.

* * *

Junpei let out a satisfied sigh from across the other side of the booth. "That was great. I don't think I could eat another bite."

I swiped the rest of his second order, adding it to my own tray as I continued stuffing my face.

An amazed, "Damn…" slipped from his mouth as I finished the remains of his meal. "You ordered the same stuff as me, right? Jeez, how the hell can you even _fit_ that much in such a thin body?" I pointedly ignored the question, rising for thirds.

Wait for slouching guy in a hoodie to make his freaking order.

Hello sushi platter~!

I started on the third meal at a slower pace than before. "Remember how I told you the other day that there are guys that're interested in you?" he asked. "I bet they'd be shocked if they saw how much you can eat."

"Like I care. If how much I eat is such a problem, screw'em."

"You got a point," he conceded. "Besides, worrying about how much you eat'll just ruin the good food you're eating." He leaned back. "Not to mention, it's a hell of a show watching you eat."

I threw half an eggroll at him.

My eyes widened as Junpei ducked, and the food went flying at the back of the only other patron's head. Without turning, without any warning, the guy tilted his head out of the way, grabbed the eggroll, and popped it into his mouth with one bite.

I covered the bill.

"Come on, I haven't actually looked around here yet, and I still have a whole 2500 yen to waste!"

* * *

Okay, so the people who sell the not-picture books are… old. Really old. Screwed up memory old. But they seem nice enough. Still, didn't see anything that could give any inspiration. Nothing that would give me an idea how to _really_ screw with that bastard.

I sighed as I made my way up the stairs to meet Junpei. He said the manga café would be easy to spo- _WHO THE HELL JUST GRABBED MY ASS?_

I spun around, seeing no one except a guy in a hoodie who shot around me and up to the top of the stairs. _I'LL KILL THE BASTARD!_

I saw red as I chased him up the stairs, following him across the scaffolding until he threw himself off at the other end. His hand was holding onto the edge when he did so, and I saw a flash of the same grey as that jacket beneath my feet.

I rushed down the stairs and, seeing no grey jacket among the crowd, started pushing open the doors to all of the stores. Nothing… Nothing… He's gotta be in there, it's the only place left!

I felt my lips pull back into a hungry grin, as I calmly pushed the door open…

Only to sigh in disappointment upon seeing the old couple were the only occupants of the building. Damnit.

The old man took a long drag from his pipe before removing it from his mouth and calmly breathed out, thankfully away from me. "… Welcome to Bookworms," He greeted. "How many guests? Smoking or non-smoking?"

I told you, didn't I?

He seemed focused on my hip for some reason. "Hm? Excuse me, but may I see that leaf sticking out of your pocket?"

Leaf? My hand reached down to my pocket, feeling and pulling out a single leaf. The hell? I don't remember that. I handed the leaf over.

"Oh! Is this a leaf from that persimmon tree?" Oh, that tree you mentioned earlier. But how did that leaf get there? "It must have grown quite a bit to produce such splendid leaves," he murmered. "…Wait, so you didn't come here to buy books? Did you come here just to show us this?"

"Uh, n-no… I was-"

"Don't be so modest!" He said with a grin. "I knew from the moment I saw you that you were a kind-hearted young woman!" He carried on like that for a few minutes. "I've been meaning to go see that tree for a while now," he said after calming down. "…but I'm not sure if these stumpy old legs will make it that far."

I couldn't help it, a small giggle managed to slip out. That was just… So _bad_!

"That wasn't meant to be a pun…" he fake pouted.

"Very clever dear," the woman, his wife I assume, told him.

"Ah, this is my wife, Mitsuko. I'm Bunkichi."

I introduced myself in turn.

"Then, we'll call you Marina-chan from now on!"

_**Thou art I…**_

_**And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt Have our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…**_

Well, didn't see that coming.

* * *

I smiled from my bench as Inoue came out of the store. I lowered my hood and smiled, popping some takoyaki into my mouth. It wasn't long before she noticed me, storming over with a scowl on her face.

"Did it not go well?" I asked with an innocent smile on my face.

She wasn't buying it. "What the hell?"

"Sit down, speak with me for a moment." Contempt clear on her face as she did so, she sat down nonetheless. I pointed to a young man and woman standing in line at the stand. "Tell me, what do you see when you look at those two?"

Taking a moment to observe them, she answered, "I see a tall man in good shape, with brown eyes and black hair. She's probably his girlfriend. Paler than most, almost definitely some Caucasian in her immediate family tree. Long brown hair, blue eyes. They've probably been together for a while."

I nodded. "Now, let me tell you what I see. A young man, less than a year out of highschool. Sexually frustrated because his girlfriend is waiting for some kind of commitment before she lets him take her. She herself is frustrated by the younger man's refusal to propose. Possibly she was hurt before in a relationship that meant far more to him than it did to her. However, his own refusal stems from intimacy issues with their roots in his youth. Perhaps an uncaring father, or a mother that never seemed proud of him. More likely, he was deeply devoted to his first girlfriend, who did not truly care for him. However, unlike her, he responded to this betrayal by retreating into himself, afraid to actually interact with the world and hiding behind a mask of indifference.

"Their mutual frustrations with one another will eventually boil over, they'll break up, and both will be miserable yet again. I can see from the look on your face that you are quite sure I'm making all of this up, but I'm not. I can see the reason swirling within them. I can see all of their hurt, their hate, their fear just rarely mixing within each other. I can see the Shadows waiting to form from their despair. However, I know as well as anyone and better than most that not everyone can be saved, every tragedy cannot be prevented. As a result, a Shadow will eventually manifest from these negative emotions, feeding upon other people and causing further suffering in their loved ones, and the cycle will continue." I stood and faced her. "You suffer the same burden of knowledge as I do. You know about the Shadows just as I do. And, if you survive long enough, you, as a Wild Card, will hold the same perception I do, will see the same things I do. You will see the world, the suffering it constantly inflicts upon itself, and ask yourself why those worthless bastards who refuse to deal with their problems get to live on, while good people die young, before they are able to _do_ anything to help fix the problem. The thing is though, I really want to believe that they can do better, with the proper nudges. But I just can't bring myself to give a damn about these people as a whole. But as for why I did what you did, I needed to trick you into entering that store a second time, with a leaf from the tree they were speaking about. Just as that young couple, I could feel a Shadow gestating within them as well. I'll leave that issue to you."

I'm really not surprised she slapped me. I would've thought less of her if she hadn't. Still, hell of an arm she's got. Knocked me right on my ass.

"Hey, you alright?" someone asked. I looked up to see a guy with light brown hair and a yellow jacket.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He offered a hand to help me up. "Hey, don't you go to Gekkoukon?"

"Yeah. You look kind of familiar…"

"Heh, you've probably seen me around, but we haven't really met yet. I'm Kenji Tomochika."

"Minato Arisato."

"Well, yeah," he said, as if it were obvious. "Nearly everyone in the school knows who you are. Coming to school on the first day with the hot transfer student and Yukari Takeba. Made a lot of guys jealous…"

"And what about you? Are you jealous of me or jealous of them?"

"Oh hell no, man. Why'd you have to put that in my head?" He complained. "Not you either, really. I'm looking for a woman with Experience." He paused to stare as a woman in her mid-thirties passed by. Ah. "So, what was that all about?"

"Ah, just a philosophical dispute."

"This 'dispute' over the right male to female ratio for a threesome?" He asked with a grin.

"Hah, really rather not talk about that."

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou Shalt Have Mine Blessings When Thou Choosest to create a Persona of the **_

_**Magician Arcana**_

"Well, I'm kind of in a rush now. Guess I'll see you around?" I asked.

"Sounds good. I'm in class 2-F. Swing by if you feel like getting something to eat after school."

* * *

"Gah," Junpei moaned from the couch. "Everyone but Minato's gone up and started studying, and I don't think he's actually come back since last night. You think he's alright?"

"The bastard can burn in Hell for all I care." That sick, lying, manipulative, petty son of a bitch.

Aaaaannd… Awkward silence.

"Sooooo boooooooored…"

I checked the clock. 11:34. Nothing on TV. "I'm still not ready to go to bed. You?"

"Slept too late. Not gonna get to sleep for a while."

And then I had an idea. "Let's go to Tartarus."

TV off. "You serious?"

"Why not? We're as good with our weapons as we can expect to get without actually going up against the Shadows, and we don't have any trouble with our Personas. Let's go!"

"I'm not sure…"

"Come on!" I pleaded. "How many guys would kill to be alone with me in the middle of the night, with no one around."

"Well, it's certainly a… pleasant thought, but running for our lives from the Shadows would kind of kill the mood… What the hell, I'm in."

"Great, I'll get the weapons, you go grab the Evokers."

* * *

I jammed the blade into the Shadow's red mask, splitting the damn thing and killing the little bastard. I heard flame crackling behind me from where Junpei had set the blue masked bastard that tried to take my foot off on fire.

I saw one more rush from around the corner. "Persona!" Never gonna get used to that.

A red blur appeared, rushing down the hall to crush the Shadow against the wall. The hell?

"I thought your Persona was that glowing girl."

"Eurydice," I corrected. "So did I." Multiple Personas huh? "Let's see what this thing can do." I held the barrel against my head, focusing on that red blur. No, not a blur, more like a teardrop with an angry face. "Ara Mitama!"

The Persona shot forward, slamming into a wall and then disappearing, leaving a head sized hole in the wall and cracks spreading out as far as Junpei was tall.

"Nice! What else can it do?"

"Uh, just that I think. Come on! Let's go see what else we can make pop out of my head."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, fifth floor. One more Persona which something labeled 'Angel', despite it being a pale BDSM porn star with wings wearing leather shorts with her ass hanging out, a leather blindfold, leather wrappings around her wrists, leather choker, leather ankle-cuffs, a leather belt barely covering her nipples, _Why the _Hell_ is this thing in my head!_

"Hey, check it out!" Junpei called. I walked after him into a corner. He was standing beside some kind of weird terminal with a blank screen. Four of the tiles in front of it were colored differently than the greenish-white and black of the rest of the floor. "Whaddya think it is?"

I smiled. "I don't know, but it has _buttons!_"

Push. Green flash. Back in the lobby.

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"Think it goes both ways?"

Push. Green flash. Fifth floor.

"Guess it does. Good find, Junpei!"

"Yeah it is. So, you wanna keep going or should we head back?"

I would have suggested heading down to the lobby and leaving, since we had a way to get back here and the Dark Hour should end in a few minutes.

Then Minato crashed through the ceiling, ass-first, and smashed the Terminal.

Lovely.

Oh look, I can see his shoulder sticking out of a hole in his jacket _and his skin what the hell happened?_

He groaned as he pushed himself up, his clothes rattling as he showed off the nice collection of cuts and burns he'd managed to build up since this afternoon. At least his whole face was still on this time, but there was still some blood smeared on the side of his face.

"Shit," he hissed. Then he noticed us. "Tell me I have a concussion and aren't really seeing you two."

I heard a cannon go off from above, and Minato snapped into action. He reached into a pocket, pulled out a mirror, and smashed it against the ground. The cannonball rushed down through the hole in the roof, and he knocked it right back up with the back of his hand.

He smashed one of those cards as soon as he'd struck the projectile, not bothering to see where it went before crying "Anubis!" The jackal-headed being he summoned disappeared after only a moment, leaving a sphere of green light around us just barely noticeable in the tint of the Dark Hour. "Cherub!" Just like Junpei, I raised my arm to shield my eyes from the blinding light the new Persona brought with it. As the light vanished and he called "Baal!" I saw that, outside the circle of light, the walls and floor had been riddled with cracks. I didn't see the last Persona either.

I was distracted by the effects.

Force tore up through the weakened floor, tearing the foundation to pieces and pushing it up to the hole Minato made coming down.

Much as I might like to describe the full effect, as it was explained to me later, I didn't get to actually see it. I looked down with the realization of what would happen the moment before our little section of floor began tumbling down.

There's not really much to describe there: The floor around us was gone, the wall behind us was gone, and we fell. Our piece of floor hit the floor below us hard, they both broke, and we fell again. On the third floor now.

"What the HELL was that?" Junpei shouted.

"Didn't have time to dig out a Persona with Tetrakarn, had to use an Attack Mirror to fake it. Use the physical immunity to knock back the projectile, then a Makarakarn to make sure we wouldn't be injured when I used a Mahamagna to loosen the structure around us and a Zanma to send it all flying up. And, if we don't get moving soon, you'll see the pants-wettingly horrifyingly powerful thing I was aiming at." Minato favored his right leg as he stood. "Let's move."

We reached the Access Point without incident. I guess Minato going through first explains why the place seemed so light on Shadows.

I looked back at him. He seemed to be using both legs now, but that hole over his shoulder is starting to look really bad. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not even really sure that all of the exposed bone was still there. What the hell hit him?

By the time we'd reached the lobby, his arm was still hanging limp and noticeably redder. "Now what the fuck were you two thinking coming in here alone?"

Damnit, I knew this was coming. "It was my idea." He raised an eyebrow, staying silent. "We're sick of you treating less like we're so damn pathetic! You act all high and mighty, claim you've been at this longer than us, but there's no way you could possibly have been any better than us when you started! We came here because it's the only way we'll ever get better! You wanna get pissed? _Fine!_ But leave Junpei out of it. I'm the one that convinced him to come with me." Well, what's it gonna be? Verbal smackdown? Strike to the gut? And then he said something I'd never expected him to say.

"… Go back to the dorm, make sure you stay well rested. S.E.E.S. officially recommences exploration of Tartarus this Saturday."

* * *

Threw this together between memorizing psych shit and a paper on the flaws of prioritizing free speech over individual safety. Be back when I can.


	13. Chapter 13

Alrighty now. The school won't press charges, I've regained full mobility in all my limbs, the cricket has been removed, God is in His Heaven, and what little can reasonably be expected to be is right with the world. Let's write a chapter.

* * *

The bastard apparently joined student council. There's something wonderful waiting to happen. Why wouldn't Mitsuru ask me? I would've said no, but it would have been nice to be considered at least.

"FYI, Akihiko-san's at the hospital getting a check-up." Junpei grinned as he went on about something Akihiko'd asked him to do earlier. "Yep, he knows who to count on."

"He only asked you because _you_ don't have anything else to do after school," Yukari claimed. Good point. Maybe that's why she didn't pick me, because of volleyball.

"H-hey, I resent that." Your protest is weak because she's right.

Yukari giggled. "I'm just kidding. So, what'd he want you to bring?"

"The class roster for 2-E."

"Why wouldn't he just ask Minato-kun?" Yukari asked.

I smiled at her question. "Kind of obvious, isn't it? Those two don't really get along. So," I turned to Junpei, "what's he want with that?" Junpei shrugged.

"Well, I don't have practice today, so I'll go with you." Yukari glanced over to me. "You're coming too, right?"

"Sure, Rio's been a freaking slave driver this week."

"W-wait a minute," Junpei stammered.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Well, he did ask _me_ for this." He waved the piece of paper around.

* * *

We followed him anyway.

"Ahhhh," I breathed out. Love that smell of death, disease, and cleaner. I missed the nauseating scent of hospital.

I followed the others into the hospital room to see Not-Akihiko sitting on the bed. Not-Akihiko was wearing a worn red trench-coat and some kind of black hat over long, messy brown hair. He was pretty handsome, in a kind of brooding, loner way. Kind of like Minato, but looking cool instead of emo.

"Umm… Is… Akihiko-senpai…?" Junpei managed before Not-Akihiko shut him up with a look. He started sweating bullets as he rushed "…inthisroom? Byanychance?"

While Junpei kept Not-Akihiko distracted, I wiped away a tiny bit of drool at the corner of my mouth and fought down a blush. I turned as footsteps approached from the hall. "What are all of you guys doing here?" Real-Akihiko asked.

"Junpei told us you were here, so we came to see you," I told him.

He smiled. "I'm just here for a check-up," he assured us.

"Is that it Aki?" Not-Akihiko asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Tch, I don't have time for this shit." Not-Akihiko got up and walked to the door. The four of us cleared a path to the door, but he stopped just before reaching us and met my eyes. "You…" Yes? He stared for a couple of seconds before shaking his head and continuing out. "Never mind."

I was going to ask who Not-Akihiko was (besides the obvious answer), but Junpei beat me to it.

"A friend from school… sort of. You know how the number of Apathy Syndrome cases have been increasing?" I nodded. "Well, he knows a few people who are suffering from it, so I was asking him about it." Well, that explains why he was in such a bad mood.

Akihiko looked at Junpei. "Hey, did you bring what I asked?"

"Of course, Senpai," he answered as he pulled the paper out of his bag.

"Sorry for the trouble." He glanced over it before folding it up and sticking it in his pocket. He rolled his shoulders with a grunt. "Well, let's get going."

"You shouldn't move your arm, Senpai," Yukari told him.

"It's fine. I've wasted enough time already. I need to get back to my training."

As we started down the hall, I asked, "By the way, Senpai, why boxing?"

"You mean, why that particular sport?" I nodded. "Well, it's not the sport itself I like; I just wanted to learn how to fight. I know what it's like to feel powerless, and I don't want to feel that way again," he muttered with a frown. Oof, bad memories there. "Besides, I'm curious to see how strong I can get. It's like a game, only I'm competing against myself."

When you play by yourself, you always win.

"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Junpei piped in. "Ya know, I'm into games to."

"Yeah, _video_ games," Yukari scoffed.

"Hey, they're good for…uh…" Junpei grasped for an answer.

"Hand-eye coordination," I suggested.

Yukari sighed. "…Whatever."

* * *

Well, Mitsuru thinks this long weekend is as good a time as any for us to start exploring Tartarus, so I guess it's official. I fought down a grin.

I'm looking forward to this.

* * *

At least, I had been. There's a certain point where enthusiasm turns into anxiety. Seems like mine is at about forty-one hours. I pulled at the MP3 player hanging from my neck to check the time. Still another hour to go.

Yukari was the first to come down. "Nervous?"

I sighed and leaned against the sign-in desk. "Yeah. I don't exactly have a good track record with this."

Two or three minutes of awkward silence passed. "So, what do you think about that guy Akihiko was with yesterday?"

"Looked pretty good, but a little quiet."

… I don't think that was what she was talking about. Oops. "Uh, they looked like they knew each other for a while. You think they're friends?"

"It's not really any of our business."

The awkward silence is back. I laid the spear down on the desk, hopped over, and started spinning in the chair on the other side.

Minato was the next to come down. He ignored me behind the desk, instead asking Yukari for some 'pin raisins' or something.

"You have a bow you need to take care of?"

I looked over the desk when I heard a very strong thud. Minato, in the same bloodstained coat from two nights ago, had dropped a massive backpack on the floor and was pulling out a small piece of wood.

"That's a hwal, right?"

"Yeah, given the setup in Tartarus, it seemed like the better choice that the 800 Newton draw longbow."

"Eight… Whoa." Apparently, Yukari is impressed with that. "I didn't think you'd be into archery. You seem like more of an up close and personal guy."

I didn't need to actually look to see a lewd grin on his face as he said, "Why yes I am. But above all, I'm a pragmatist. Having some method of ranged attack is common sense, and Persona isn't always the answer. When faced with a large group of shadows in the right environment, a bow can be used to pin at least some of them down, either holding them still to be destroyed by a wide-ranged attack, picked off one by one, or just cutting down the number of enemies to be dealt with at a time."

I think I may have dozed off a little while he started up a bullshit story about a woman who faced down a minor god with nothing but a bow, her Persona, and friends. I call bullshit. Just because there are people who can make monster pop out of their heads and Shadows that appear in a mysterious hour at midnight that billions of people are completely ignorant of doesn't mean there are real gods running around. That would be ridiculous.

Junpei flicked my ankle as he passed, and I followed the others out.

* * *

At Tartarus, Minato grunted as he slapped the terminal in the lobby. "Guess it'd be too much to expect the damn thing to have fixed itself…" he muttered. Loud enough that he obviously intended us to hear him, he said, "All right, listen up. I've done a bit of poking around in here, and there was another one of these on the fifth floor. Unfortunately, it was destroyed when I got blasted down two floors from a blast that disintegrated my shoulder. But there should be more of them further up, so we should make an effort to get to the next one and activate it tonight."

Mitsuru nodded in approval and the rest of us followed him up.

"Well, you're in charge," Minato reminded me. "What do you want us to do?"

I took a moment to consider. "Groups of two, Junpei with me. Spread out, kill every shadow you find, call if you find the stairs."

"Heh, two of us alone eh?"

"Stop that, Junpei."

"Really though, why me? Why not Yuka-tan or Minato?"

I grinned a little as we turned the corner. "Minato's strong enough he'd count as a team by himself. We work well together; I don't know how well either of us would work with just Yukari backing us up, so she's with the freaking powerhouse. We'll change things up once we all know we're good enough to know we'll survive if what we change to doesn't work as well."

"Whatever works," Junpei agreed.

After about half an hour of this method, I had gotten another Persona and we'd reached the tenth floor. Minato leaned against a wall looking rather impressed as we panted, wiped sweat from our foreheads, and generally wished we had the option to empty a water bottle over our heads.

Y'know. Without being soaked in blood.

After Mitsuru informed us of the three Shadows near the middle of this floor, Minato began to speak.

"You've all done… better than expected. While there have been some," he leveled his gaze at me, "Unexpected incidents, this has been a rather good evening. We appear to be in an area of similar setup to the fifth floor. I recommend locating the terminal and returning to the dorm. I'll handle the Shadows." I accepted his theft of command with a nod and gestured for Junpei and Yukari to follow me.

I walked over and started playing with the terminal as I heard Minato shout, "Hastur!"

The screams were cut only a moment after they began. I'm probably lucky not to have seen exactly what he did.

* * *

After a walk to the dorm that was far more tiring than it should have been, I waved goodnight to the others, trudged up the stairs, and managed to shed my shirt and jacket and wiggle out of the skirt before collapsing on the bed.

Too damn tired to keep moving.

Much as I might want to tell you that sleep immediately followed, the creepy little stalker boy showed up again. I turned my head enough that one eye barely saw over the pillow most of my face was buried in. "Hi. How are you?"

"Mph," I groaned into the pillow.

"One week from now, there will be a full moon. Be careful. A new ordeal awaits you…"

"Whkinufforeel?" I managed.

The boys already too-serious face grew more somber as he told me, "You will encounter one of _them_. You must prepare for the ordeal, but time is of the essence." His lips parted into a small smile as he continued, "I'm sure you're aware of that, of course." He turned and began walking to the door. "I'll come see you again when it's over. Goodbye for now." He just seemed to disappear when he reached the door.

Whatever… too tired for thinking.

* * *

I came back to the dorm early, still munching on the bread Bunkichi gave me. This stuff's a lot better than I thought it'd be. Still, Junpei didn't have to call me a backstabber for going out. Not my fault I have friends who don't live in the dorm.

"Hey," Yukari greeted me. "Have you seen Minato today?"

I haven't exactly been looking for him but, "Not at the strip mall."

"Actually," Mitsuru started, "I don't believe he came down today."

"Pretty sure I heard him in his room when I got up, and Mitsuru-senpai was down here before me," Junpei told us.

"Think he's alright?" Yukari asked.

I sighed. "I guess someone should go check on him, huh?"

"Not it!" Junpei declared. Not sure how to respond to that.

I sighed and started up the stairs. Before I reached the door, Mitsuru called for my attention before holding up a key-ring. "I thought you may want to use the key this time."

Oh. "Um, thanks senpai." She nodded and went downstairs. I took a breath and ventured into his room.

A mix of sweat and cleaner rushed into my nose and nearly knocked me on my ass.

For the most part, the room was spotless. Bare walls, nothing decorating the floor, two jackets visible hanging in his closet, a couple of textbooks and a laptop on his desk, and that huge backpack he'd been carrying all that equipment in last night. The room must have been cleaned heavily, pretty recently, too.

The source of the second smell was fairly obvious as soon as I looked at the bed. White sheets, the occasional pinkish stains that were probably bloodstains that didn't quite come out, transparent right over Minato from the sweat pouring from him. Every muscle in his body seemed tensed, and he let out the occasional grunt. I reached down to brush his bangs out from in front of his other eye. Damn, so sweaty it's actually _stuck_ to his face.

I pushed a little harder and found myself covered by the sheet. By the time I pulled it off, there was a sword poking at my neck and the room had filled with the blue mist that accompanied Personas. Blue t-shirt clinging to his chest as he panted, Minato glared with the one eye as only someone startled to consciousness and not fully awake can.

Heat flared on my left. Very careful not to move anything else, I glanced over to see a pumpkin with a witch's hat, black cloak, and white gloves holding a lantern with a _much_ larger fire than there should have been. A second later, I shivered as a burst of cold swept over me from the right. Another glance revealed a snowman that stood about half my height, with a blue snowcap and matching boots. Water vapor in the air began to freeze, crystals of ice shining around it.

I looked back at Minato, suppressing the urge to gulp and thereby prick my throat on the tip of his sword. His vision softened just enough to tell he was fully conscious. He waited a few seconds before saying, "Don't disturb me in my sleep." The Personas faded away, he lowered the sword, and pulled the sheet back. "If there's nothing important, get out." He rubbed at his eyes, drawing attention to the fairly thick black circle beneath his eye. The sword was returned to where it had been hidden behind the mattress. "I'm going back to bed."

Um, holy crap.

* * *

My cell woke me up the next morning.

"_Hello, it's me, Rio. Are you up?"_

"It's okay," I mumbled as I started walking to the shower.

"_You want to go somewhere today?"_

I met up with her at the strip mall an hour later, following her up to Hagakure.

"I saw ramen on TV and got this sudden urge to have some," Rio shrugged as the guy took our orders. "I've never come here alone before, so I was a little hesitant. I come once or twice a week with a guy friend… Friend?" she asked herself. Hmm, maybe you want him to be a little more than a _friend_? "Anyway, there's always someone else."

She seemed to be trying to apologize without actually saying the words, or confirming that there was something to apologize for before doing so.

"I couldn't get a hold of him today… sorry to call you up on your day off like this."

"Why're you apologizing?" I asked as a bowl slid in front of me.

"Do you have a thing for ramen… too…" She stared wide-eyed as I emptied most of the bowl. "I guess that answers that," she muttered as she started on her own bowl.

I signaled for another as I finished this one off.

"It's no fun eating here alone, so thanks for coming with me."

"No problem," I answered as I paid. "Gimme a call if you can't get a hold of that friend of yours."

* * *

"You gonna finish those fries?" I asked Kenji.

"Hmm? Oh, sure, go ahead." He sighed as he checked his phone. "No wonder she didn't call, the damn battery's dead."

"Who's 'she'? Your girlfriend?"

"Huh? No way, man! She's just a friend from when I was a kid." He put his cell away and leaned forward. "So how about you? Got your eye on anyone?"

I leaned back and finished my Cielo Mist. "11 o'clock, cutie in the black jacket with the ponytail." Devil Arcana, easy.

I walked past our table again three minutes later with my arm around her shoulder. "My treat," I told Kenji as I dropped 2000 yen on our table. "Later man."

* * *

"Huh, doesn't look like you have many people today, huh?" someone I didn't recognize asked as I came in.

"… Yeah," Rio admitted.

"I wonder if they heard about that group date…" she sighed. "I don't know if I should be appalled or jealous…"

"Hey, you idiot!" Girl-With-Glasses-Whose-Name-I-Couldn't-Be-Bothered-To-Remember shouted.

"… Group date?" Rio asked.

"Huh? Ohhhhhh… You didn't know…" New-Face realized. "Sorry, I heard some of the girls in the tennis club talking about it."

"So, everyone went to that?" Rio asked just short of hysterically. No one answered. "… Why'd they hide it from me? All this running around behind my back is so irritating!"

"…Y-you'd get angry if we told you," Girl-With-Glasses-Whose-Name-I-Couldn't-Be-Bothered-To-Remember squeaked.

"Of course I'd get angry!"

"C-calm down…" New-Face said.

"What a pain… they're just taking a breather. What's wrong with that?"

"You call a group date 'taking a breather'?"

"Yes! I don't expect someone who's never been in a relationship to understand it, though. And what's with that attitude of yours all the time? Who the hell do you think you are?" The Great Kamina!

"What…? I'm your leader! You're the ones that nominated me! Or did you all forget that?" Rio shouted.

"If we knew you'd be like this, we wouldn't have nominated you!"

"What! Well, it's too late now!"

"Screw this! This isn't worth my time… I'm done with this stupid club. You're a pain in the ass, and I don't care about keeping up with you. I bet everyone else is going to quit, too." The other members left. Crap.

"Hey! I'm not done-"

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" I ran up to Rio and New-Face.

"And where were you?" Rio demanded.

I held my hands up, partially anticipating a need for self-defense. "I fell asleep in my last class, and wanted to get the notes I borrowed copied before I forgot about them."

Rio looked away, some of her anger redirected at herself but still too much going outward to apologize to anyone.

"I-I'm sorry about that…" New-Face apologized.

Rio sighed. "It's not your fault, Yuko."

"… Hey, I know I'm butting into another club's business here, but… You… really should make peace with them. I'll try and help, too…"

"They're the ones that are wrong," Rio claimed.

"Uh… That's true," Yuko agreed, "but… Oh!" Yuko leaned over to me. "You're Marina-san, the other transfer student, right? Can you keep an eye on Rio? She just doesn't get how to interact with people sometimes… To be honest, I'm kind of worried about her. I try to lend a hand when I see things aren't going great, but I don't know much about your club. Oh, by the way, I'm Yuko Nishiwaki. I'm the manager of the Track Team. Nice to meet you."

"Marina-san… You aren't going to leave?" Rio looked down. "Sorry, but I want to be left alone right now."

Presumably, she was going to start walking to sit on the bleachers. I went around and stood in front of her. "Not gonna," I told her with a smile.

She laughed. "You really are strange." There were tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

_**Thou shalt Have Our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana**_

The following few minutes were none of your damn business.

* * *

Friday, May 8th. I asked Mitsuru to let us go through Tartarus a couple more times this week, and we found the next Terminal on the fourteenth floor. I should probably try and drop some hints to Junpei and Yukari to make sure they don't tire themselves out today or tomorrow.

I was going to follow them to the cafeteria, but Toriumi caught me before I could leave. "Ah, Inoue. You haven't joined any clubs yet, have you?" She didn't give me time to say I'd joined volleyball before going on. "I know this is sudden, but there's some positions that just became vacant that I'd like you to take on." Wait, _positions_? As in multiple? "I mean, all students are obligated to join a school committee. I'll let you choose which one you'd like to join. There are positions available on both the library committee and the school health committee."

I sighed. I'm not getting out of this, am I? "I guess I'll join the Library committee."

So, after school, instead of hanging out with my friends or getting ready for tomorrow night, I found myself in the library.

"Is everyone here?" Female-Teacher-Whose-Name-I-Don't-Care-Enough-To-Remember asked. "Allow me to introduce Marina Inoue, from class 2-F. She'll be joining the library committee." She turned to me. "If there's anything you don't understand…" she paused in thought for a moment, looking at the half-dozen other members of the committee. "Let's see… Hasegawa!"

"Yes ma'am?" a tall girl a year or two older than me asked.

"Teach her how to get around here. I'll leave the rest to you."

"Understood," tall girl answered as the teacher left. "Well then… could you come over here so I can explain?"

"U-um, Saori-san?" a student with absolutely no outstanding qualities and only notable for her remarkably strong blandness asked. "Excuse me, but we, um…" Oh, wait, she stutters.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't notice," she apologized. "Please feel free to go home. I'll take care of the rest for today."

"We're really sorry," Stuttering-Girl said. "See you later." The other members left.

"Oh, please don't think that the others aren't welcoming you to the club. They're all just very busy…" She drifted off for a few seconds. "Um… Let's see, where should I start? Oh, sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Saori Hasegawa."

"I'm pleased to meet you," I said with a slight bow.

"Heh… There's no need to be so formal," she assured me. "I'm a junior, just like you. You don't have to be so polite to me."

"But, that senior a moment ago…"

"Oh, you noticed." Her voice was tinged slightly with disappointment. "I'm actually two years older than the juniors here. I studied abroad, and took some time off from school. I'm the oldest student currently attending Gekkoukon. That's why the upperclassmen all speak so politely to me. I really wish they'd stop… but I've pretty much given up about it. Still, considering that we've just met, it'd be nice if you didn't feel you had to be like that around me. Could you try?"

I sighed in relief. "That's a load off my back." Going be replaced in equal parts emotional baggage and paperwork though.

"Is that so?" She giggled slightly. "You're funny." Hey! Just because my eyes are-

Oh, funny. Not funny-looking.

_**Thou art I…**_

_**And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt Have our Blessings when Thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…**_

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was supposed to explain our duties here. We usually meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, be we get a few days off before each set of exams. First, we'll go over the checkout. All of the books have a barcode…"

* * *

Next Up: Arcana Priestess.


	14. Chapter 14

Tonight's the night. I didn't bother going to bed, instead opting to go over my Persona and pick up some bullet proof vests from the cop Akihiko introduced us to.

* * *

"We're here!" Yukari announced as the other three came in. She and Iori seemed to have scrambled into their clothes. Inoue however…

Apparently, she at the very least suspected something would happen tonight. She carried a Naginata in one hand, the other holding a backpack over a single shoulder. Bad for your spine, that. Comfortable black jeans and a bullet-proof vest over her sweater.

Not as good as my own, but I've had a long time to get this kind of gear together. A belt with an incendiary grenade, three flashbangs, and a bag full of gems with a fun variety of effects were clipped to my belt. Of course, the others wouldn't notice that with the jacket hanging down over them. Very thick, very heavy. Two layers of fabric, with a set of chainmail between two sets of Kevlar between those two layers. Well, except for my shoulder. That thing in Tartarus took care of that, and a good bit of bone and muscle with it, with that Megidola. Damn near took my head off there.

"Where is it?" Iori asked. "I'll rip it a new one." Oh look, he's grown enough problem solving skills to realize that if it's worth waking everyone up for and half of the combat team is already geared up, there's probably a Shadow.

"We've detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus," Kirijo said.

Well, they have been known to be in other places but- "Wait, you were able to pick one up outside Tartarus?" she nodded. Okay, given all of the buildings and the much wider range, that's either very impressive or very bad.

"We don't know for sure, but we think it's another big one." Bad it is. "We have to defeat any of them we find, as quickly as possible." Isn't that kind of the point of S.E.E.S.? "Most people don't know the Dark Hour exists," she reminded us.

"Without trying, a big or strong enough Shadow could cause some serious damage. Damaged infrastructure, destroyed buildings, people suddenly trapped under debris… All in a moment, without any evidence of what happened. The people would panic if that happened."

Kirijo nodded. "That must be avoided at all costs." I wonder if I'm the only one that caught on to the unspoken 'Even your lives'.

Iori punched into his own palm. "In other words, we need to kick some ass, right? Count me in!"

Inoue sighed. "Junpei…"

"Akihiko, you stay here and wait for the Chairman," Kirijo ordered.

"Wha-! Are you kidding?" he shouted. "I'm going!"

"Sanada, if you were to accompany us on this mission, you would slow the team down due to your injuries. The most likely event would be your own death, closely followed by one of us dying while trying to cover your ass. If you insist upon making yourself a liability, I will ensure you are no longer able to be one." He glanced at my sword, probably trying to judge if he could draw and fire his notagun before I could pin his good arm to the wall.

"Damnit," he muttered.

"Relax! I've got it covered!" Junpei assured him.

Sanada made a sound that was equal parts sigh, grunt, and growl. For those who cannot grasp the subtle nuances of the male grunt, he was dissatisfied with the resulting situation, but understood he would not be able to take in active part in changing it. However, he was going to at least offer what was in his opinion superior to the current situation. You need a Y-chromosome to get it. His eyes ran over us as a group before settling on Inoue. "Marina, you're in charge."

"Again?" Iori muttered.

"Leave it to me!" she declared. Huh, must not have heard him.

"Guess it's pretty much decided that you're our leader, huh?" Iori asked.

"You four should go on ahead," Sanada advised us. "Mitsuru, you need to get ready, right?"

* * *

We'd agreed to rendaevoo at Iwatodai station. I glanced over at Minato, who just sat on the steps staring at his hand.

"Where is she?" Yukari asked.

"She'll be here soon," Junpei told himself as much as her.

The bastard leaned back on the stairs, looking up at the green moon. "It's full tonight." He seemed to mutter something else to himself, but I couldn't hear him.

Leaning against a bit of railing Yukari looked up. "It's creepy during the Dark Hour…"

We stood like that for maybe another minute before hearing an engine. Minato tensed up for a second before looking around.

Kirijo stopped the white motorcycle in front of us, pulled off her helmet, and removed a strap holding a radio or something onto the back. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Minato stared at the bike for a moment. "Nice ride."

"A motorcycle?" Yukari asked. Why does that work? Wait, don't tell me. It's special, right?

"Listen carefully," she said, ignoring the question. "Tonight, I'll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same." We all nodded. "The Shadow is currently located inside a monorail not far from the station. You'll have to follow the tracks on foot."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Junpei asked.

"Not during the Dark Hour," Minato and I piped at the same time. I let him explain.

"Electronic equipment stops functioning during the Dark Hour. We'll be fine."

Junpei turned to Mitsuru. "But, you're bike…"

I held up a finger before she could answer. "Let me guess: It's 'special', right?"

Her lips seemed to twitch into a frown for a second. "If circumstances change, I'll notify you immediately." Which would be a couple of seconds later than we needed to know to get clear. "Let's get started."

"We'll get going then."

"I'll be expecting a sterling outcome."

* * *

Yukari turned back and glared at me and Iori after she'd started up the ladder. "Don't. Look. Up."

Minato obediently turned away, leaning against the train. Junpei tried to hide a blush under his cap. "Can't blame me if I happen to catch a glimpse," he muttered.

I'll kick him in the balls later.

"Say, Marina…" Yukari started from in the monorail. "What do you say we bury Junpei here and leave him behind?"

I had the good sense to let the guys go first before following up, but Minato caught my shoulder. "I'll take the other side," he said. Before going, however, he leaned in and whispered, "I'm sure you've been caught on a train during the Dark Hour once or twice, I know I have." I nodded. "When that happened while the train was in motion, did the doors _ever_ open?"

My eyes widened as I thought through what that could mean, and scrambled up the ladder. Minato hopped in through the door on the other side. Junpei and Yukari were checking out a coffin. "Poor stiff must be a passenger…" Junpei realized.

Minato held a finger up to his lips, waiting for the trap to spring now that we'd taken the bait. Yukari gasped as the doors snapped shut.

"_What's wrong?"_ Mitsuru asked. _"What happened?"_

"The doors were open, we went in, they shut behind us," I told her.

"_It must be the Shadow… It knows you're there,"_ she realized.

"Be ready for anything," Minato instructed.

"_Proceed with caution,"_ Mitsuru finished.

"Got it."

"The hell?" Junpei asked in the third car. "I don't see any Shadows…" he complained.

"It's so quiet it's creepy," Yukari agreed in the next car. She gasped as a Shadow dropped out from the ceiling.

Some kind of weird set of rags waving in the non-existence wind wearing a red mask and a crown with a book inside it.

"There it is!" Junpei shouted.

Minato hung back, glancing over his shoulder like he expected another to drop down behind us.

Junpei swung his sword as the Shadow flew back, fleeing into the next car. "Get back here!" he shouted as he started after it.

"Hold it!" Minato shouted.

"If we don't go after it, we're gonna lose it!"

"If you do, you could run into a trap!" Minato countered.

"_Marina, you're in command there. What do you think?"_

"We should be careful-"

"Who needs your advice?" Junpei shouted as he pulled out his earpiece. "I'll go after it myself. You just sit back and watch me beat it all by myself!"

"Wait!" Yukari and I shouted. He ignored us.

"_Behind you!"_ Mitsuru shouted.

Before she'd finished, Minato spun around and ran his sword through one of their masks. Two more of that new Shadow Junpei ran after. Minato's target caved in on itself a moment later. I followed up with a cry of "Nekomata!" and watched the other one burn. I noticed the mask was red, with a II on it. That's Priestess, right?

I thought back through that book Minato threw me the other day. Knowledge, wisdom, and acting on instinct, reversed being someone indecisive or unable to act.

Yukari sighed. "This is just what the enemy wanted…"

"C'mon, we've gotta go after him." Yukari and Minato nodded.

"_If not, you'll likely be picked off one by one."_

"Damnit, Stupei!" Yukari shouted as she pinned a Shadow to a chair. "What are you thinking!" Minato threw a rock he pulled from him pocket at the Shadow, freezing it and the seat before shattering. No one will notice the cracks in the seat, right?

"_He's only a few cars ahead,"_ Mitsuru told us.

"Out of my way!" Minato roared as another three Shadows dropped. A single swing of his sword cut through two of the masks, but one of the floating ones managed to dodge and rush around him.

Yukari was quicker on the draw than I was. "Io!" A burst of wind shredded the Shadow to… well, shreds.

We found Junpei a couple of cars ahead. "Junpei!"

"I've got it under control!" He shouted as he cut through a Shadow. "Take that, you freak of nature!"

"Iori! Get down!" Junpei dropped at Minato's shout, and Ara Mitama flew over him, knocking the Shadows back. Minato followed up by throwing another of those weird rocks, burning the Shadows and leaving a fairly large scorch mark on the ceiling.

"_This_ is what happens when you don't listen!" Yukari scolded.

She took a breath to calm down as I asked, "Are you alright?"

"O-of course I am," He managed as he gasped for breath. "I was doing just fine.

"Excuse me?" Yukari shouted.

Minato snapped his fingers. "Is this really the time for this?"

"_I don't detect any Shadows moving near you, but stay alert!"_

Naturally, the train started moving right away.

"Why're we moving?" I shouted as I regained my footing.

"_It seems the monorail is under the enemies control."_ Lovely.

"Whaddya mean 'it seems'?" Yukari asked.

The train sped up a bit. "That's not good," Minato noted.

"Ya think!" Junpei shouted.

"_If you can't stop it, you'll crash into another train."_ Just _fucking_ lovely.

"_What?"_ Yukari shouted. Before she worked us all into a panic, Mitsuru cut her off.

"_Calm down and listen. I sense a strong presence in the front car."_

Minato nodded. "That's the one we're after.

"_You'll have to defeat it to stop the train!"_ Mitsuru agreed.

More Shadows rushed to meet us as we started forward.

"What kind of messed up ride is this?" Junpei shouted as his sword bounced off of… some, weird table-thing. He jumped back, and pulled out his Evoker. "Hermes!" The table met a swift end with fire, and its companions soon joined.

"We'll have to finish this quick!" I shouted as I led the charge. "How much time do we have left?" I shouted over the gunshots, battlecries, and occasional squishy sounds whenever someone stepped on a Shadow that hadn't quite faded.

"We're gaining speed!" Yukari shouted.

"_Two minutes, twenty seconds!"_

"More coming from behind!" someone shouted as we reached the next to last car.

"I'll hold them!" Minato shouted. "Get the big one!"

With the right mix of adrenaline and fear for my life, I didn't question and just charged forward, flanked by Yukari and Junpei.

There was a giant woman in the next car, one half black and one half white, some cloth just covering the space between her legs, and hair fused into the trains power cables. I glance at the head confirmed that it was a Priestess, with the same red butterfly mask as the others.

"The Hell?" Junpei asked.

"No questions, just kill it!" I ran forward, hoping for an easy kill by destroying the mask, but a wall of ice appeared in mid-air and stopped me short.

"_FIFTY SECONDS LEFT!"_

I grunted as I hit the ground and dropped my weapon. If I couldn't get close, it wouldn't do any good. "Lilim!" The winged girl let loose a ball of fire, but the Priestess waved a hand and a Shadow… popped out, _eewwwwww_, and blocked it.

Another wall of ice blocked a set of arrows from Yukari, and she lost her footing as she stepped back onto yet more ice. The fresh Shadow rushed forward to cut Yukari open, and I turned away and summoned "Ara Mitama!" The Persona flew forward and smashed the Shadow against the wall, but another fresh one flew forward.

"Lookout!" Junpei warned, but it came too late.

I heard Mitsuru start to shout, _"TWENTY-EIG-"_ before the Shadow hit me. I held my arms up to defend myself and got one of them run through for my trouble. The head of the Shadow kept going, hooking itself under my chin and knocking me upward just in time to see Junpei's feet be frozen to the ground as he approached the Shadow, and I dropped my Evoker as a sweep of its leg knocked him to the ground and probably fucked up his ankles.

I didn't get to keep thinking about that as my head hit the ceiling, and I started to fall.

Tunnel vision started to set in as I looked into the previous car, Minato with some serious bruises on his head and missing a sleeve of his jacket, revealing a blood-smeared arm. I heard a cracking noise as his sword snapped, most of the blade flying off to land in one of the seats. He swore as he smashed what remained into a Shadows mask and looked at us. Must be one hell of a sight.

He looked me in the eye as he tore off his belt, flinging the entire thing toward the Priestess. There were a few indistinctly colored balls that I couldn't see clearly attached to it, but one of them seemed to stand out. I looked around and saw Yukari, clutching at her shoulder as she fell against the wall, kick her Evoker to me.

I stood as I grabbed to Evoker.

I had no idea what the hell I was doing as I ran forward. I slid beneath one of the smaller Shadows, tracking the belt with my eye. If I'd been in my right mind, if I'd stopped to think, if I'd been running on anything other than pure instinct, I wouldn't have done what I did.

I rushed headlong at the Shadow and felt myself smile as I jumped over Junpei and a wall of ice. I put the Evoker to my head and pulled the trigger. "Unicorn!"

The Persona leapt up, impaling the differently colored thing hanging from Minato's belt and erupting into a glorious blaze. Unicorn kept going, charging straight for the big Shadow and destroying the little one as it passed. I threw the Evoker to Junpei and shouted, "Finish it!" as the Priestess was set on fire.

I kept running straight for the Shadow as Hermes flew over me and smashed into its mask. I held my breath and rolled through the muck the Shadow dissolved into. I broke through heavily weighed down and covered in filth, reached forward, grabbed at a lever, and pulled as hard as I could before the world faded to black.

Gggggggggggg

"… be alright?" someone asked.

"She should be fine, just give her a minute. You already used a dia on her head, which should take care of her purely hypothetical concussion. If she needs to rest now, let her." There was a noticeable pause before the voice continued. "She did a damn good job."

There was an unsteady series of thuds, probably footsteps, as I opened my eyes. "Are you okay?" Hi Junpei.

I managed to smile and give him a thumbs up.

"Geez, such a tomboy."

Minato held his hand to his ear for a moment. "Right, we'll head on back as soon as we've gotten the evidence."

"Evidence?" I asked. At least, I tried to. It came out, "Evdnsh?" Okay, words are still kind of problematic.

"Yeah." He turned to Yukari. "Get the Evokers, earpieces, and any clothing torn off in here. I'll run through and get the arrows, broken pieces of weapons, etcetera from the other cars." Minato walked off.

Yukari looked down at me. Why's she so tall? "How did you know which one was the break?"

I smiled weakly and managed, "Woman's intuition?"

"I… don't think this is the kind of thing woman's intuition helps with…"

"Whatever," Junpei sighed. "Wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm freakin hungry."

"Uhhh, hate to break it to you, Junpei, but girls usually don't get hungry in the middle of the night…" Her own stomach sold her out a moment later as she was squatting down. Oh, I'm lying on the floor. Of a monorail.

"Someone help me up," I moaned.

"_We'll order some pizza when we get back to the dorm!"_ Minato shouted from the other end of the train. That's some good hearing he's got.

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou shalt Have Our Blessings when Thou Chooseth to Create a Persona of the Fool Arcana**_

* * *

On an unrelated note, pineapple pizza is awesome.


	15. Chapter 15

Feith: The wonderful thing about first person narration is that any error on my part becomes part of the narrator's characterization. Unless, like a certain wizard in Chicago, you have somehow managed to be wrong enough that the local stadium grows a parking lot.

Cowgirl: You could basically skip Minato's part of this chapter by looking at your review and me saying 'P' did it.

* * *

I sighed as I followed Yukari downstairs. Saved who knows how many people just three days ago, and this is the thanks I get.

Guess what next week is. Really, guess.

Guy who said lesbian orgy, get the hell out.

Why yes, the rest of you are correct: Exams!

And all the clubs and committees aren't meeting this week, so I can't even hide out in Volleyball or the Library Committee!

I have been spending a lot more time at the bookstore though, so that's something.

Someone wants to cut down that awesome tree!

And that meeting with Theo ate up the Monday they were closed for, so I'm covered for the week.

Probably would have been more shocked about that if Minato hadn't been having coffee with that lady with the nice hat. Actually, thinking about Minato got me thinking about something else. He didn't actually use his Persona at all the other night, and he didn't have that giant and heavy bag full of crap that he carried into Tartarus. And he, who should have been able to kill the Priestess without any effort at all, was really determined to make the three of us kill it.

Putting all of those things together, there was only one possibility.

Once Yukari finished her nightly attempt to make us study, I shared the thought I'd had with Junpei.

He enthusiastically agreed with my idea, and agreed to be with me during the dangerous task of confronting him.

* * *

I ended the call, tapping my foot with barely suppressed rage as I waited for the Velvet Room to open.

I managed a half-assed smile and nod to Elizabeth as I passed her, ignoring the piano near the stage, ignoring Igor at the bar, heading straight for the door in the back marked by a butterfly.

I kicked down a capital G God's door and demanded an explanation. It adjusted its tie, leaned back in its seat, and I could feel distaste for me from behind the mask. "What, exactly, are you talking about?"

It occurred to me for the first time tonight that it may have been a bad idea to kick down the door to a God's throne room and impudently question it at the seat of its power, surrounded by its strongest followers.

Well, too late to worry about that now. "You know damned well what I mean. I agreed to submit to your limitations because I needed to able to control my power enough to fight, so I could actually bother to aim my attacks instead of summoning hundreds of Personae every time I have a strong emotion and sending them to massacre everything in the world that moves! So why in the Seven Circles of _Hell_ would you lock me down when I was trying to _Help People?"_ I shouted.

"Because it was not your fate to strike down the Priestess."

"And what does that mean?" I asked. I could feel power beginning to be drawn up within me. Similar to Persona, but not quite. Power without Philemon's limitations. Power like the night I-

I grasped my head and fell to my knees, screaming in pain. Some distant part of me, one of the selves that organized my thoughts while in a fight without being distracted by petty little things like pain, took note of the green mist spreading through the room.

"Is this how you choose to repay my kindness?" the God asked. "I helped you learn the discipline to picture and call upon the selves within you. I protected your mind from the incursions of demons and gods alike." The pain began to ease off as I finished his reminder. _I offered the chance to truly utilize Persona after your mind had been touched by the Crawling Chaos. To offer you a second chance to shield yourself from the corruption of thousands of Sorrows, thousands of Regrets, thousands of Shadows, with thousands of masks._ In the end, that's all my Personae are. A countermeasure. One that was allowed to come to be by his will. There wasn't any real functional difference between a Shadow and a Persona, both aspects of the self, both capable of great power, both able to be invoked under the proper circumstances. The only real difference is the exact amount of control.

I proved damn well that the control is very important, and a lack of it is damned likely to get people killed. And so, I struck a deal with Philemon. To submit the power of my Wild Card to his will, and in exchange he would ensure that I formed a Persona to match my every Shadow. I include those Shadows among my Personae, because I can always feel them, could summon them at any time. But that would be breaking the deal.

I glared as I rose.

But that didn't mean it always worked both ways. It wasn't a fair deal. The bastard could cut off my 'Real' Persona any time he wanted. But something like that was damned rare, and he'd only done it once that I could recall before these weird Shadows started showing up on the full moon.

But however unfair it might have been, I didn't have the control necessary to control so much power, so many selves, without something's help. And Philemon was the lesser of many, _many_ evils that would love to have a walking portal into the human realm for all their minions.

And that was another important thing to consider. The contract with Philemon basically allowed me to call in favors he'd racked up, to make use of his own contracts as if I'd signed them. Anything he'd cut a deal with that I could match up with, I could use to manifest my Persona.

As far as I know, I've held that deal longer than any other human being ever has. Toudou's group used it for about a week until they found what they called their 'True Selves' and did some self-discovery shit, and then they just had the one obscenely powerful Persona made from cloning a god inside their own brains. At least I think that's how it worked. I'm not really sure on how much conscious effort on their part is involved, and S.E.E.S. implies the possibility that making a deal like that is a completely unconscious thing. Damnit, this isn't going to get me anywhere.

Anyway, the point being: I have a positive and negative side for every possible identity. The negative sides could be forced to manifest as Shadows, and the stronger… well, not really positive but _less_ negative sides could be manifested as gods and demons and heroes that Philemon had cut a deal with. The weaker ones were still there, but not well developed or powerful enough to correlate to any of the aforementioned entities.

Or maybe I'm just utterly insane, and the very existence of Philemon and anything he and his assistants have ever said or done is a delusion that occurred only within my own mind and allow me to believe I'm in control of **GODLIKE POWER**. And therefore the belief that I'm in control allows me to actually control this power. But the belief that my belief gives me control could result in a wavering of said belief, which could in turn result in a delusion of a _lack_ of control, which could be much more dangerous. But if-

"Stop that."

I was sure the bastard was smirking behind that mask. "I would kindly request that you not attempt to call upon such power so recklessly." _Start reaching for power again and I'll kill you where you stand._

I took a moment to calm down. Acceptance. Willingness to accept new ideas. The enlightenment to accept what has been, to seek forgiveness, to reconcile, to accept the mistakes of the past.

Judgment.

"Please, explain to me why you wish for me to allow S.E.E.S. to fight these Shadows without my aid."

It nodded, satisfied with the wording of my request. "There are extenuating circumstances that render Inoue uniquely qualified to defeat these entities. In addition, these Shadows are merely fragments of something far greater, and could become sources of great power." As Philemon met my eyes, I was more aware than ever that this was a being that could choose on a whim to wipe me out with a thought, or make me fight to the death against one of his servants, each at least as powerful as I and with more experience, for his own amusement. "You are not a man who should take hold of such power."

Because I was currently in an enlightened state of mind, I was able to acknowledge that yes, my actions given such a massive increase of my already not-inconsiderable power could trigger a Conception.

Bad things happened during Conceptions.

And, on a much more personal note, I realized that the odds of finding Naoko would be greatly diminished if all the souls of humanity were recycled into a new universe.

It says something about me, which of those thoughts made me accept that it was right.

"May I assume that I will be free to utilize my power as I see fit during operations not pertaining to these fragments?"

"Of course. So long as you abide by our contract, we shall support you in all that you do."

* * *

I clenched my fist as I walked back to the dorm. It was important to remember that no matter how reasonable, how helpful, that it seemed, Philemon was just another callous god at the end of the day. An entity as unmoved by human suffering as Zeus, as Lucifer, as Brahma. Willing to use human beings as pawns in its little games with other such entities, making wagers and slaughtering millions to alleviate its boredom.

According to Nanjo, the actions of Philemon and his opposite, Nyarlathotep, had resulted in almost all of the human race being slaughtered, and the universe was divided into two separate pieces at the cost of everything that really mattered to the _four_ human survivors, undoing about three moves of the game, returning most of the world's population to life, and apparently leaving one of them trapped with a dimension all to himself for all eternity. And it was all damn-near for nothing when the same damn thing started happening again.

That's just how the world works. Especially for Wild Cards. We always end up dead or serving one god or another. Some day, humanity will reign over gods, using not trickery for petty favors, but to hold such power that our superiority will be unquestioned.

Tch, that's just a damn pipe dream, something twenty-nine days of a month I don't believe myself… but it's a way to think about what's really happening in the world without slitting my wrists.

I slipped out of my shoes, noting the lack of people with Apathy Syndrome around the dorm, and started unbuttoning my jacket.

"Hello, Minato."

Inoue sat in the chair facing the front door, Iori standing beside her with his arms crossed and attempting to look intimidating. "Hello?"

"We figured it out," Iori informed me.

"Figured what out?" My real name? The cause of the Dark Hour? What the little things at the tips of shoelaces are called?

Inoue leaned forward, managing a pose Gendo Ikari would have been proud of. "Why you didn't use your Persona on Saturday." My eye widened until she actually told me her incorrect assumption. "We know that you are evil."

It started with a sudden exhale. Then I snorted at the sheer ridiculousness. And, of course, my phone began ringing. With that American song I'd set as my new ringtone. So glad these two are horrible at English. As the lyrics began, I burst into a full-scale hysterical laugh.

'_This is the life you see_

_The Devil tips his hat to me_

_I do it all because I'm evil_

_And I do it all for free_

_Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need.'_

I had a smile on my face until morning.

* * *

I found the cutest little girl at the shrine today. I'll give it Takoyaki and Mad Bull and wash it and cle- I'm talking about a human being like I found a stray dog. What is _wrong_ with me? But… I think there's potential for a Social Link there. Would I really do that? Hang around with a little kid, intrude on her life, and manipulate her beliefs to gain power?

I got a snack from Wild Duck Burger after leaving Bookworms and heading to the café.

As I saw about twice a week, Minato was chatting up some girl barely out of highschool, young enough that being with a seventeen year old wouldn't raise any eyebrows. And as I saw nine times out of ten, she got up and left with him.

But this time, something clicked. Minato obviously went up to people, started messing with them, manipulating them, all the time. And yet he didn't know what I was talking about when I asked him about Social Links. Which would mean that in order for one to form, it couldn't just be done by a Persona User trying to gain power for themselves. If I was just going to try to twist the kid around my little finger, a Social Link wouldn't form, and I wouldn't need to bother to do it in the first place.

Yay for epiphanies!

The next day, I made the Hanged Man Social Link.

* * *

The day after that, I was playing volleyball with Rio. Technically, sports teams and clubs and such weren't supposed to be meeting during the week of or before exams. But, technically, we didn't have enough people to count as the volleyball team anymore, and so were just two students that happened to have been on the volleyball team who decided to have a friendly game.

In the same outfits worn by the volleyball team during practice.

In the gym where the volleyball team practices.

"Keep your knees in mind!" Rio shouted as I overshot, sending the ball a little too far left and over the line. "Alright, I'll serve next, so- Oh."

"Oh?" I asked

"Heeeeey, Rio!" a male voice shouted from behind me. That's… Tomochika, right?

"Kenji…" Rio sighed. "What do you want?"

"I've got some homework I just don't get at all. Could you do it for me instead? Or tell me how to do it?"

"I bet you just slept through class again," she muttered. I tried to look innocent. Kenji started chuckling as his nerves got the better of him. "… What do I get in return?"

"Ooh, so you're up for it? Lucky me!" he shouted with a smile. "I'll give you my love in return. Love, baby!"

"Nobody needs that!" Rio shouted. Ouch, too bad Kenji. "… How about you buy me a special at Hagakure?"

"Yikes, that's steep…" Kenji winced. "Okay! I'll be watin' around until you're done."

"Oh, sorry…" she apologized. "I ended up loafing around."

"Aren't you being a little too nice to him?" I asked.

"Oh, you mean the homework?" Rio asked. "He's pretty stupid, so I doubt he'll be able to do it by himself… It's been like this since preschool, so he's pretty reliant on me…" She smiled. "He's like a little brother to me." She shrugged. "He's been coming here a lot lately, and he's starting to be a pest." She just kind of stopped talking after that.

"Is something wrong?"

"Sorry, it isn't much of a practice with just two people…" she mumbled.

"Don't worry," I told her. "They'll come back sooner or later."

"Yeah." She bit her lip before continuing. "It's like… I don't want to pretend nothing happened, and I'm not going to say this is my fault." So… you want them to forgive you for something you know is your fault but don't want to take responsibility for? "… I know that I need to be more mature about this, but…" she groaned. "All that stuff about never having been in a relationship and stuff… That's none of their business."

I smiled. "Don't let it get to you!"

"Yeah!" she shouted with a clenched fist. "Marina… Do you have… someone you like?"

"Nope." There are three guys I associate with semi-regularly, Junpei being in all honesty my best friend, something I'd rather not screw up, barely knowing anything about Akihiko except that he's in S.E.E.S. and on the boxing team, and Minato is a jackass.

"I-is that so," she sighed in relief. Ah, she wanted to be reassured that it was normal to not have someone like that. Although, the opinion of a teenager who comes to school at midnight with her dorm-mates so we can shoot ourselves in the head while staring at Shadows probably doesn't count as normal. "I don't get romance. It seems like so much trouble, and there's no big reward for doing it."

_**Thou art I**_

_**And I am Thou**_

_**Thou shalt Have Our Blessings when Thou Chooseth to Create a Persona of the Fool Arcana**_

"Let's get back to practice," Rio decided as she fetched the ball. "I'll serve."

* * *

"Damnit," Junpei voiced both our complaints. "I'm sick of studying. Let's go to Tartarus!"

I looked over at Yukari, expecting the rejection from our best healer that would likely leave us sitting here. "We _do_ have exams next week… But, what the hell, I'll go."

"Sweet, get your gear ready!" I told them. "I'll tell Mitsuru."

After finding her on the fourth floor, Mitsuru handed me three copies of a sheet of paper.

"What're these?"

"Given some… less than exemplary behavior on your parts, Arisato and I took the liberty of drafting some guidelines for exploration within Tartarus. Please, pass them along to Iori and Takeba."

I started reading through them, waiting downstairs for the others to come.

_There will be no 'Riding the Beetle'. This means you, Inoue._

_There will be no using remains of Shadows as a platform to be stood or sat upon, tied to a group of Dancing Hands, and used to run over Mayas. This means you, Arisato._

_Minato Arisato is not to be used as a blunt weapon. This means you, Inoue._

_No, a camera will not be provided so that Inoue's Personae can star in a soft-core porno._

…

"Hey, Minato?" He made a grunt of acknowledgement. "The last entry on all of these is handwritten, but I can't read it. What the hell is," I squinted, "Zalgo?"

His eye snapped open as-open as-en as-asl;ajdklvhnkjlWOG**zsklhia****po**dsnbvj**ful_ikw__jasd_lvklds%$Lnzbsadknjv;hf8**9****egtdsioahsg8rige`I)**_**a**__ds_jvnkdsjogvn(;lfnfdskuhvnokpdfsanl#**vkjdskgvjn.**_**swf)**__fdsghgodsifnhfvioushfoiabsniv_


	16. Chapter 16

I took in the situation as I smashed the Maya's mask with my foot. Greenish tint to the world, blood but nothing bleeding, Shadows. I'm in Tartarus.

Okay, calm down. The universe did not just temporarily collapse, we are not data.

And if a Norn shows up talking about 'salvageable universal fragments' being amalgamated, I'm starting a war with Heaven _and_ Hell.

"Kirijo, what happened?"

"_Tartarus appears to have shifted altered its structure while you were on the stairway in order to separate you all."_

"Damnit, where're the others?"

"_Inoue and Iori have linked up already, and are currently en route to rendezvous with Takeba at the next staircase. You are the one farthest away. Proceed forward, and turn left at your first opportunity."_

* * *

"The Shadows on the monorail were a lot stronger than anything else we've fought," Yukari realized as we hit the seventeenth floor. I spared a glance to check if whatever had left that damaged document here the other day had replaced it with something else. It hadn't. "Are all the Shadows we face from now on going to be like that?"

"It'll be good for you to move up," I assured her. "Besides, even without me along, the three of you would easily outclass these Shadows."

"Damn straight!" Inoue called as she pushed the remains of the barrier out of her way.

* * *

I heard Minato let out a low whistle as he followed us up the stairs. "Not bad…"

"Shut up," I told him. The new section of Tartarus was… less green. It was actually kind of purple-ish. And there was the occasional spike or demon face carved out of the walls. I tried not to look directly at any one part of the floor for more than a couple of seconds; otherwise it probably would have given me a headache.

"Seems like Tartarus is divided into separate sections," Minato noted.

"_Indeed. For now, we will classify the previous section as Thebel, and this as Arqa. The Shadows on this level appear stronger than those you are accustomed to, so please proceed with caution."_

"You worry too much," I told her.

As soon as the words left my mouth, very loud and very fast footsteps started from down the hall. I turned in about as long as it took the bastard to run between us, and by the time I'd started taking in the details of its black metal body, he'd already tripped it, jumped back over it, and crushed the mask as his foot came down.

"See? We'll be fine."

* * *

I sighed as I fell into bed. I couldn't have gone to the Velvet Room _before_ starting up the tower, could I?

I should explain.

After Minato tore a couple of guard-shadows to pieces and we activated a couple of Terminals, we decided to call it a night. Before we left, I decided to stop by the elevator, just to check in.

Theodore had come to the conclusion that I 'like a challenge' (guilty), and decided to set up a few challenges for while in the tower. One of them was to bring him three of the old lanterns carried around by some of the new Shadows we found.

I must have left a dozen of the things just lying up there on the floor…

"Damnit!" I shouted as I slammed my fist against the wall. I felt it give way and pulled my hand back with a reflexive hiss before realizing…

I'm not hissing or moaning in pain. I just put my hand through a wall without any kind of serious discomfort.

"Awesome!" Self-esteem properly boosted, I rolled over for a nice rest.

* * *

Huh. So, turns out the library committee is actually supposed to meet the week before exams. Not much to do but sit around though.

…

Guess I should probably start studying.

"Th-thank you for your help, Arisato-san."

"I told you, you don't have to keep thanking me. That smile of yours is the best thanks I could ask for."

The pencil broke in my hand as a blushing girl hurried past without actually running. The bastard slowly came up after her, stopping and leaning on the desk.

"Hmm, you're having math issues as well? Need some help?" Stay still… Stay still… NOW!

My hand shot up, smashing against his nose and dropping back behind the desk before anyone could notice. I blinked when I realized Minato had barely reacted to the cracking sound from his nose, just resetting it and doing something with his knuckle that stopped the bleeding.

As soon as he had finished, Saori came up from… where had she been again?

Anyway, doesn't matter. I reached up and flicked Minato in the nose before he could get a steady rhythm going. "That's just mean, Inoue. Treating me so harshly in front of this beautiful woman I've yet to even introduce myself to?"

"You want introductions? Fine." I pointed directly at the bastard. "This is Minato Arisato, the sociopathic man-whore that lives in the room below mine at the Iwatodai Dorm." Pointing at Saori, "This is a wonderful young woman who will not be left wondering what she did wrong as she wallows in self-pity after one of your one-night-stands." I snapped my fingers as he started to speak. "Out." Eyebrow raised, he calmly turned and slowly left.

"Um, what was that all about?" Saori asked.

I sighed. "Trust me on this; that guy isn't the kind of person you want to spend any amount of time with."

"I see. You were looking out for me, weren't you?"

I smiled a bit at the question. "Of course I was. You're my friend, and that guy is a jackass." I glanced at the clock. "A jackass with the occasional good idea, though. I'll be heading home too."

Let's see now… Theodore wanted a portable game system, didn't he? Maybe Junpei has a spare COMP laying around…

* * *

He did. An old one, anyway. Chrysalis came out with some kind of Collector's Version last week.

Dropped off the system with Theodore, he said something about brains, handed it back, and I went to the extra shift I picked up at Chagall.

I'm on a roll here, maybe I'll go see that monk I heard about from Rio, too.

* * *

"H-hey," Akihiko greeted past heaving breath and a red face.

"Are you not feeling well Senpai?" He really doesn't look so good.

His breath settled down before he reassured me, "The opposite, actually."

"No offense, but you don't look so good."

He shot a cocky grin before stretching his arm. "The doctor said I'm almost fully healed, so… I couldn't wait to get some exercise. I'll be ready for battle after midterms."

"That's great!"

"Yeah. But, that means I've got to start training now."

I winced in sympathy. "Geez, I felt like crap after just a week of lying around. I'd hate to be in your position."

He almost looked embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I was wondering if you might be willing to stay in my position."

"Huh?"

"You've been doing a good job leading the team in Tartarus. I'd like you to continue doing so while I work on my training."

"Well, alright. But you're going to be taking over someone's job whether you want to or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I figured that there was a chance I'd be left in charge, after all, Yukari's never actually been to Tartarus without me in charge and I was leading the team since Junpei and I joined. I just thought that if you weren't taking the leader job from me, you'd end up saddled with Minato's baby-sitting duties."

He sighed. "I guess I'm stuck with one distraction or another."

"Yep!" I told him. I also noticed a pretty evil glare from a girl about ten meters away. "Well, I'd better get to class. Bye!"

* * *

I heard a muffled conversation through the door, but by the time I'd shifted my bag and Bunkichi's crab bread around to open the door, all I managed to hear was a "-it I'll do it myself," before Minato stormed out in a jacket that must have been new, since it didn't have the scorch-marks and rips and bloodstains of the old one.

Mitsuru sighed as I closed the door. "What was that all about?" I asked.

"It may be nothing. Unless we become certain that there is anything to it, I would prefer not to burden you."

"Alright. You mind if we head to Tartarus tonight?"

"I'm sorry, but I must ask you not to go tonight or tomorrow night. The others are busy studying for their exams, and would not have time to go." Her lips pursed as she said, "I would think you should be using the time remaining to study as well."

She's really serious about this.

"I'll… be in my room."

* * *

"_What the Hell kind of language is this even written in?"_

Ah, Junpei.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have come today," the chairman muttered. "By the way, I hear someone yelling every so often. Who is that?"

"Iori appears to be having difficulty with the work he has been neglecting for the past month," the bastard said from the big table.

"And what the hell are you doing?" I asked him.

I heard the rattle of chains and the sound of ripping fabric. "Old jacket got torn up. It was too conspicuous, and likely to cause a call to the cops if someone saw me wearing it after the Dark Hour ended. I haven't been able to get in touch with the man who set up the mail and Kevlar between the layers, so I have to manually replace the Kevlar around the damaged mail, then put it in the new jacket and sew it back together."

"So… busy night?"

"Yeah. And I'd appreciate some quiet. I have to be done with this by 11:30."

"Why?"

He finished a stitch and put his work aside for a moment. "Unlike you Inoue, I've actually been working to help the Lost, instead of hoping to get the right Shadow inside Tartarus."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that every night that you spend the Dark Hour as an extra night of sleep instead of killing Shadows, I'm running all over Iwatodai killing every Shadow I can find, hopefully before they can finish whatever the hell it is they do to the pieces of people's minds they tear out for food." A minute of silence, interrupted by the occasional jingle of chains. "Go study for your exams, I have things to do."

* * *

Shadows are the only real cover they'd accept.

They wouldn't believe me about anything further out if I told them, and Inoue would probably be the only other one to even see anything short of a god.

For example, the grey-skinned man with wings leading a woman down a lonely street by the chain in wrapped around his neck. Well, that's the one I was after. Hell, it'll be a good chance to see if that not-summoning trick will work in a real fight.

I quietly followed down the alley, seeing a man in a cloth robe with a knife waiting for the angel.

"Yasuhiko Ayanami, thou art in violation of The Lord's will. _'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.'_ And the only punishment suitable for such a transgression is death." The man raised the knife.

"Ah, you see, that's an interesting way of doing things you've worked out for yourself. That's the problem with most of you religious types, so focused on the lettering of your God's will that you can't be bothered to care about the intent with which it was transcribed. What happened to that good old stuff about 'Ye among you who is without sin, cast the first stone'?"

He gave that smile that only the fanatically devoted can smile as he answered, "I have no such sin. I am merely an instrument of the Lord."

"No sin whatsoever? I seem to recall something about everybody being sinners, not wearing clothes with mixed fibers. And I can't help but notice that you're 'working' on the Sabbath. And while I realize that the original term from Exodus 22:18 meant harmful spellcaster rather than witch, the binding ritual you cobbled together for that Angel counts either way. You certainly have sinned. By your own logic, you should die as well."

"You dare to doubt me?" A small bit of energy connecting his raised hand to the Angel's neck became clear. "Destroy him, Anael!"

The angel dropped the chain and rushed toward me, a flaming sword appearing in its hand.

Dodge Fire. Evade Slash.

I leaned aside from the initial thrust, ducked beneath the following slash, and pushed myself away from the ground as the third came around-

Tarukaja.

-and delivered an axe kick to the Angel's head, pushing it to the ground.

I rushed forward to the little would be summoner, who held his little knife up in defense.

I grabbed his wrist, snapping it with a twist of my own and stealing the knife as he fell back.

"Y'know, you seem to, in your own little way, be a man of god. Basing everything in your life, including all the lives you've taken, on religious dogma. Anyone who sins should die. I have a little verse you seem to have forgotten. _'Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one."'_ I just wanted you to remember that your own justification said you deserved this."

No special ceremony was given to the event. I didn't use the knife. I didn't even need to summon my Persona to do this anymore. No one would care about it if they found where I left the body to rot. Whoever he was, he didn't even exist now. Maybe a dozen people in the country would have been able to remember him if they had known him, but at least half of them wouldn't have allowed him to live if they'd known what he'd done.

I wonder if anyone in S.E.E.S. actually knows that this is what happens to the Lost who don't have their Persona pulled out of the Shadow that consumed it. Probably not.

I glanced back at the angel.

**Thank you, human. I apologize for my recent actions, I was not myself.**

"I don't care about your apologies, I care about what is allowed to happen under your God's watch. He'd best get his shit together, get his house in order, get his people here in line."

The world shifted to green as the Dark Hour began. Now, just one thing left to check on for the night.

Fuuka Yamagishi, huh?

* * *

Anyone too lazy or frightened to look up what the hell happened between this chapter and the last, Marina basically glitched the story for a couple of scenes, and Minato knew they were missing. And for those still figuring it out, there is very little actually left of the Nice Guy that Minato could have been. He does usually want to do Good things, though. But, you know, nutjob. A well-intentioned nutjob with a near perfect ability to mimic a perfectly sane person when he wants to, but he'll mouth off to the Almighty and willingly go beyond mere murder. Remember what Joker did to Eikichi's pals back in Innocent Sin? Minato figured out how to use it for murder.


	17. Chapter 17

For those wondering about the end for chapter fifteen, Zalgo is an internet meme forming a glorious union between H.P. Lovecraft with, well, the internet. You can like it on Facebook. The wonderful FFN glitched the chapter to prevent it's arrival, purging the infected scenes. This momentarily left Minato vaguely aware that something got fucked up, but he repressed it, as is standard when reality shifts without restoring the relevant memories. Actually, Zalgo seems like it would be a good fit in Digital Devil Saga...

Anyway, time to start the Fuuka section! (As soon as we finish a comparison between Minato and Marina's exams.)

* * *

**Exam Day 1**

…syntax potentially indicative of implications that would be severely damaging to the writer's standing in the community…

* * *

What the hell does this even _mean?_

* * *

**Exam Day 2**

Bread.

* * *

Pudding?

* * *

**Exam Day 3**

Approximately one thousand, seven hundred kilometers per hour.

* * *

As fast as sound?

* * *

**Exam Day 4**

…and magnesium content, commonly referred to as 'hard water', …

* * *

Mineral Water!

* * *

**Exam Day 5**

The Kitora Tomb, located within Nara and housing…

* * *

Nara?

* * *

**Exam Day 6**

And as diplomatic ties began to collapse, economic destabilization occurred to such a degree that the effects are still felt in Slovakia today. Looking at the historical context of such actions, it must be concluded that…

* * *

The people went crazy from loneliness?

* * *

I wiggled my fingers around, trying to get some feeling back in them. The entire hand cramped up half-way through the essay and I had to switch to my left.

Gah, I've been spending too much of the day inside, just exercising when keeping an eye on that house. Maybe Kaz'll be up for a run.

* * *

God, that was exhausting. At least it's over now.

At least, until Stupei reminded me that I'd have to face up to this performance soon. Now I don't want to do anything…

I waved off a couple of invitations to grab some food, just stumbling back to the dorm and collapsing on the closest chair in the lounge.

* * *

Was shaken awake by Mitsuru. Reminded that the sign-in sheet is not a pillow, and the desk is not a bed. Sneakily wipe small amount of drool from sign-in sheet.

Alright. Thinking clearly again. I rubbed my eye and the side of my face as I followed Mitsuru into the lounge. Yukari, Junpei, and Akihiko-senpai were already there.

Apparently, I missed something important during my nap, because all I heard from Akihiko was "-another Persona User."

"Sweet!" Junpei cheered. "Is it a girl?"

"Fuuka Yamagishi," Minato began without looking away from his notebook. How does he hide with that blue hair? "Female, sixteen years old, student of Gekkoukan High School Class 2-E. Member of the music club. Scores high on regular assignments and in examinations, seems to hold few relationships of any sort with her peers, closest to fellow club members, though distant even to them. Observation confirms capability to enter the Dark Hour, though seems unaware of its existence and has yet realize the ability to summon a Persona. Frequently absent from classes due to illness. Has never dreamed of a butterfly. I would like to take this opportunity to restate my opposition to her recruitment."

"Why do you know that?" Stalker- wait, no. I turned to Mitsuru. "Is that what you two were talking about the other night?"

"Yes. Arisato decided to take the initiative and conduct his study regarding the possibility of her recruitment. Though if he is indeed so opposed after that, I feel I may have to agree with him."

"Too bad."

"Yeah," Junpei agreed. "I was gonna offer her some private lessons."

I strategically positioned myself before asking, "What kind of lessons?"

He let out a pervy chuckle before answering, "I'll leave that to your imagination."

Yukari glared, Mitsuru glared, I glared, Akihiko backed away, Minato closed his notebook and sighed.

"What? I'm a guy. Whaddya expect?"

One stomped foot later, and the meeting was done.

"By the way Inoue, Sanada's been given a clean bill of health, and will rejoin you in Tartarus. Meanwhile, I will continue guard duty for Yamagishi." He pulled on his armored jacket with quick, precise moves and started for the door. "She doesn't have an Evoker, and she could easily be overwhelmed by Shadows were they to stumble upon her."

Minato left.

"Well, get your stuff everyone. We're going to Tartarus tonight."

* * *

Akihiko sighed as we waited outside the school. "It's disappointing that Fuuka can't join us. I had an Evoker made for her and everything."

"Well, we have you back now!" I reassured him.

He smiled. "Feels good to get such an upbeat welcome back to the team. Junpei said he wanted Fuuka instead of me."

"Stupei's an idiot," Yukari reminded us as the Dark Hour hit.

"Just remember, you don't get to slack off just because I'm here," Akihiko reminded us.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I told him as the Terminal activated.

* * *

"Whoa," Yukari breathed behind me. As I returned my Evoker to the holster-thingie, I had to agree.

We hadn't checked in the corner when we entered the room, and a nest shadow got the jump on Junpei. He was only knocked out, but we were still a man down before the fight even started. Yukari and I managed to take out one of the two Steel Gigas that came out with me distracting it long enough for her to knock it off balance, then I hit it with a zio in the mask.

But Akihiko- he started a damn boxing match with the thing, stepping just out of the way again and again, scraping its arms against the walls while he pounded it in the chest, then finally hitting it with an uppercut to the chin that knocked it flat on its ass, then fried its brain with a lightning bolt.

We had to carry Junpei back to the dorm though.

* * *

"Oh, Minato," Yukari greeted. "Punctual as always I see."

"I thought I'd show up early, make sure I matched the standards I set for myself."

I sighed as the two eggheads went through their result day rituals.

"Oh, did you see Junpei? He looked like the world was about to end."

"Well, the exam results are up."

Really you two, make me feel worse.

"He said he's gonna beg for a higher score…"

That might work.

"Seriously? There's no way in hell that'll work."

Changing subject now. "So, about that Yamagishi girl. Do you really think she wouldn't be able to help out?"

"Please, Inoue. Peripheral observation since I started here, in addition to in depth observation for ten days. Do I have to get you a copy of her medical records to make you believe me about her condition?" he asked.

"You could get her medical records?"

"Yeah, the Dark Hour makes breaking into places pretty easy."

"What?" I hissed. "You can't just run around stealing things like that."

"Relax, I pay for anything I take that I can possibly profit from, and I make a copy of useless documents that occasionally show up as an 'unanticipated anonymous report' to a police station," Minato assured me. "Well, you should probably get to class."

* * *

Well, I'm not in the lowest… seventh. That's something, right?

I wonder how the others did. Hmm, Akihiko and Yukari both did pretty well, no surprise there. Junpei did worse than me, which is kind of comforting, and Mitsuru's at the top of her class. But I don't see-

No. Th-there's no way in hell. The bastard didn't even study! I _know_ he didn't study. He can't be the top of our year. _He didn't sleep the entire week of exams! _

_How the hell is he four freaking classes of people higher than me?_

* * *

I slept through Toriumi's bitching most of the class over our scores.

"Hey," Yukari greeted. "I, uh, saw your test results. They were, um…"

"Just don't," I told her.

I stumbled down the stairs, moving along the hallway without really paying attention until I bumped into something. "Sorry," I mumbled.

"Oh, it's you," Akihiko realized. "Heading home already?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Wanna walk with me?"

"Sure. But, you mind if we stop somewhere on the way?"

"Alright."

"Great. There's something I've been in the mood for."

People are freaking _glaring_ at me. Does Senpai have _that_ many fans?

Okay, do not be so self-conscious. You do not care that they are staring at you, you are not naked.

* * *

"You're okay with the special, right?" Akihiko asked.

"Oh, yes yes yes _Thankyou!_"

He blinked in surprise before putting the order for two extra-large specials.

"Mind if I get some appetizers too?"

He laughed at the question. "Eat as much as you like."

I'll apologize after the fact.

"Keeping a strong body is important. As impressive as your abilities are, they won't be of any use if you get exhausted easily."

So, this is him showing he cares about a friend? Huh.

"Food's here," I noted.

_47 seconds later…_

"You finished it all…" he said, amazed by my incredible stomach. "Hey, are you up for going to another resturaunt?"

"Another meal? What're we waiting for?" I stumbled as I jumped out of the seat, grabbing the table for support.

"Are you sure? You don't look so well. Don't let yourself suffer just to be friendly. Seriously…" he sighed.

"If you don't eat right, you won't get any stronger… Why are you glaring at me like that? I'm not Junpei. I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl. Mitsuru was hesitant at first about making you our leader, but I have to say I agree with Arisato's choice. I'm pretty sure she does too, now."

"It's not that… I'm just not in a good mood today. Sorry if I'm being bad company."

"Don't worry about it," he assured me. "We're depending on you, so make sure you do a good job. And, of course, we'll all be doing our best to back you up as well. It's not like you're the only one trying hard."

_**Thou art I… And I am thou… Thou hast Established a New Bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have Our Blessings when thou Choosest to Create a Persona of the Star Arcana**_

Star?

"Well, I guess we should head back." He stood, stretching his arms as he paid for our meals. "C'mon, let's get a quick jog in to settle our stomachs."

* * *

"I'm sorry if I ignored you, I was just so busy looking through all the books…"

"Don't worry about it," I told her with a smile.

"Um… I'm sorry I took so long. This place just has so many interesting books, I was having trouble deciding… Do you read much, Minato-san?"

"I… never slept well when I was young, and I'm lucky to get much at all even now. I spent a lot of time reading. Philosophy, fantasy, religious texts, manga… I learned English with translation software and a couple of American comics. Yeah, I read a lot."

"Ah. I mostly read manga myself. I have a whole shelf full of shojo. I tend to get frustrated when the main character can't ask out the guy she likes, because I can relate to her…"

"That frustration is understandable. It's amazing for how long our works of fiction have encouraged us to emulate people that can't take responsibility for their feelings and act on them."

_Responsibility…_

A chill shot down my spine as demonic laughter filled my mind.

_You're one to talk._

She took a moment to consider it.

_**Why don't **_**YOU**_** take responsibility for the lives of the men and women whose blood stains **_**YOUR**_** hands?**_

Chihiro looked at her surroundings for what was probably the first time since we started the conversation. "Oh! This, um, probably isn't the best place to talk," she realized. "We may be disturbing other patrons." As we stepped away from the entrance, she asked "Um, Minato-san? Is it boring to hang around with, um, a nerd like me?"

"I don't really like manipulating my way around with popular people, I've never really been interested in sports… Band geeks, bookworms, computer lovers… A 'nerd like you', as you put it, are the people that make up the demographic I'm most comfortable with as a whole. Why would I be bored hanging out with someone I actually share interests with instead of having to lie and guess my way through conversations about things I don't understand or concern myself with?" I asked.

"I-I'm glad to hear that. I've been worried about it for a while…" She smiled. She's cute when she smiles. "T-today, I was able to be myself with you, Minato-san. Th-that's a big step for me. Thank you.

_**Thou are I… And I am Thou…**_

_**Thou shalt have My Blessing when thou Choosest to call upon the Powers of the Justice Arcana**_

"I-I'll see you at school."

* * *

"Suuuuuuup?" came Junpei's dejected groan. "How'd you do on the exams?"

"Completely bombed them…" I sighed.

"Seriously? But, your scores have to be higher than mine… I'm a laughing stock… After the results were posted, I heard these two cute girls talking… They were sayin' I have a one track mind…" He took a moment to compose himself before his grin returned. "Well, I won't let it get to me!"

I couldn't help smiling. His enthusiasm spreads easy. "C'mon, let's stop by the strip mall on the way back."

Food, of course, was the first thing on his mind. "Ramen or a meal… maybe a beef bowl… Oh, wait, what about takoyaki? What do you want to eat?"

"Anything's fine."

"Uhh… Then, what should we go for?" He scratched his head for a minute before figuring out that we are supposed. To get. Ramen. "… I guess ramen will do."

I didn't say that out loud, did I?

"Okay, let's go."

I followed him up to the second level, bumping into him as he stopped.

"Whoa, what the hell?"

I looked around his side (no way I'd manage to see over his shoulder) and saw some old guy in a suit standing around. After he tried to take a step and fell into the wall, it was obvious staggering was a better description than walking.

Junpei grunted. "That dude's completely wasted… It's broad daylight, dammit…"

"That guy's kinda close to the railing. You think we should get him down to the ground?"

"He's fine. If he falls off, it's his own damn fault."

The drunk noticed us staring and stumbled over. "Wha'chu lookin' at?"

Junpei tilted his head so his hat hid his face from the guy. Or maybe he just wanted to get something between his nose and the guy's breath. "Whaddya want? Get outta here."

I took a deep breath from a distance and stepped up beside Junpei. "Are you alright sir?"

"Marina!" Junpei snapped. "Just leave him alone! Let's go!" He pushed me into Hagakure, sitting me at a table before ordering the usual and falling into the chair across from me. "You shouldn't deal with guys like that. I mean, you're a girl… It'd be bad if anything happened to you!" He sighed. "Uh… Sorry. I… don't like seeing drunks like that. Well, I doubt anyone likes seeing people like that." He did that nervous laugh thing. "You… you don't have any parents, right?"

I nodded.

"I know that this'll make me sound like an ass… But I kinda envy you… There have to be some parents that their kids would be better off without…"

"That's not true!"

"Oh… Sorry. You must have had good parents."

The ramen arrived. The tension kept me from being able to enjoy it.

We ate in silence, each pulling out enough cash for our meals, Junpei getting the tip.

We left at the same time. We were going to the same place. But we really weren't together like we should have been.

A block away from the dorm, Junpei spoke up. "My… dad was always drinking. He'd just sit there and drink, all by himself… And every time he did, he'd get violent over the stupidest stuff…" That's… "But… it doesn't hurt at all anymore. When I was a kid and I acted up, it really hurt when he hit me." I vaguely noticed that my nails had cut my palm open, my hand was clenched so tight. "But now… He's lost what strength he had, and I didn't even notice it." I hadn't noticed that we'd stopped walking. "Whoa… Sorry for bringing that up. I must really be boring you." He shook his head and started walking back to the dorm. "C'mon, let's get-"

It was equal parts hug and tackle.

"What're you doing?"

"You needed a hug, whether you wanted to admit it or not. And to be honest, after hearing that, I kind of needed one too."

I felt his arm patting my shoulder. "Heh, maybe I did."

I pulled away, smiles back on our faces as we started walking again. "Y'know, if you ever need to talk about it, or even just vent for a bit, I'll be there for you."

"Thanks."

"C'mon, race you back to the dorm."

* * *

Damn you… Junpei… and your… long-ass legs…

He sat down on the stairs as he waited for me to catch up.

"Hey, do you two live here?" a delivery guy asked from the door.

"Oh, yeah. What is it?" I asked.

He pointed to thin box about waist high (for me, a normal person; not freakishly tall people like Junpei). "I've got a package for Minato Arisato. I've been waiting here for like ten minutes. I don't suppose that's either of you?"

I stepped up. "I'll sign for it."

"Whatever." He passed me the clipboard, I returned it, and got a blandly packaged box in return.

"C'mon Junpei, let's go open other people's mail."

We went in, fully intending to tear open Minato's box as soon as we were inside, but then saw Mitsuru reading a book in the lounge and Minato alternating between a sandwich in each hand back at the table.

So we positioned ourselves out of Minato's sight and then opened the box. And out came the thinnest-ass little sword I'd ever seen. Aww, he found someone with a sword in his size.

"An epee?" Mitsuru asked as she saw it. "If you're taking up fencing, I could give you some lessons."

As she spoke, Minato's attention was pulled away from his sandwiches for just long enough to realize he should hurry and finish them. Which he did. In a manner that was one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen in my lifetime. "Oh, it's here. Great!" He was licking one of his hands clean as he made his way over. "And while I appreciate the offer Kirijo, I'm not really much of a fencer. I don't have the lengths for a decent lunge or thrust, even though I'm alright on technique. Katanas, knives, spears, staves, bows, grenades, my fists, even a short sword I can manage in a straight fight. But for competitions, I'd either hold back so much I got my ass-kicked, or get myself disqualified for excessive force. And as for fencing itself, the epee and foil are too slow for my tastes. Sabre is far more to my liking."

He grabbed the sword and returned it to the box. "Then why did you get a sword you wouldn't use?"

And full-on smirking bastard mode. "An acquaintance of mine expressed an interest in acquiring one, but has been unable to do so. Therefore, I took the liberty of acquiring one for her myself."

I can't help but notice that a lot of the time my palm spends against my forehead happens to be while I'm near Minato. "You went to the internet and spent a ton of money on a sword to try to get into a girl's pants."

"Freud would have a field day," he agreed. "Don't you have work tonight?"

Oh. Damn.

* * *

**ZALGO. HE COMES.**


End file.
